Khadija Kazmi – a 26-year-old Pakistani football aficionado from Karachi, is the first Pakistani female footballer to secure a spot on the prestigious FIFA Masters course by CIES and De Montfort University.

Kazmi has been playing football since she was a little girl and has accomplished so much for the football industry in Pakistan.

She has co-founded the women’s division in an established football organization (Karachi United) and is running a football program for girls between the ages of 3-18 years in Sindh. Since there is no local federation and no sports-based degrees in the country, she decided to take it upon herself to help promote women in football.

Only 32 students from all around the globe have been chosen to study at the prestigious FIFA Master course at DMU in Leicester, England. When asked what inspired her to start playing football, Kazmi told MangoBaaz:

“I was always into sports. I grew up playing cricket with my cousins and took up football with the boys in school.”

She went on to say, “Two instances pushed me to actively take it up: one was the realization that everything I knew in life was because of football, what I learned on-field was used off the field too. Especially things that I hadn’t learned in the classroom – like being comfortable in my body and discipline. That’s why I truly believe every child should have the right to play, it can truly change someone’s life.

Kazmi hopes to improve the football standards in Pakistan and inspire women to play sports with the education and skills she will be acquiring through her studies.

When asked about her plans after she has completed the course she told us:

“That’s a tough one. It’s difficult to pinpoint but in the long run, the vision is still to provide every child the opportunity to play football, so I would somehow like to work towards that and obviously get Pakistan some (positive!) international football recognition.”

How inspiring! We wish Khadija the best of luck in her future endeavors.

cover image source: trending.pk