Karishma Ali

Squad goals

The Pakistani football star on winning matches, battling for gender equality, and shutting down online trolls

Words ALEXANDRA ZAGALSKY Photography ABUZAR MIR

In 2016, Karishma Ali set a bittersweet record. Chosen to represent Pakistan at the Jubilee Games in Dubai, the then 19-year-old football prodigy became the first girl from her hometown of Chitral to compete in a major sporting tournament. A fan of football since the age of nine, Ali had spent her high-school years in Islamabad, where her athletic career flourished thanks to a more liberal take on female physical education. Having won a silver medal in Dubai, she returned home focused on encouraging female participation in sport. When Ali organised a small, low-key football camp, she expected a modest response; to her surprise, more than 50 girls signed up.

But her sporting efforts came at a price. Chitral District – a remote mountainous region in northern Pakistan noted for its scenic valleys – is particularly conservative and patriarchal, and she became the target of online abuse and threats. “At 18, I was overwhelmed by all the hate and criticism,” she says today, aged 24. “I’d cry myself to sleep.”

Undeterred, in 2018 Ali founded the Chitral Women’s Sports Club, which offers not only football but volleyball, cricket and even skiing, and now has more than 200 members, aged between eight and 16. In January last year, she arranged for 37 club members to attend a football camp in Islamabad, where they received professional coaching. “They were amazed to see tall buildings, and women driving cars,” she says. “And their confidence on the pitch was inspiring.”

Ali’s own team, Highlanders FC, took part in the National Women’s Football Championship earlier this year, reaching the quarter finals before the competition was cancelled for their rights, and that I could help them. Instead of calling their fathers and brothers to attend tournaments, I invited their mothers, who don’t usually get to enjoy such activities.

How did the summer camp evolve into a fully fledged sports club?

The players I work with come from 40 villages. Even when we settled on a [playing field], many girls were still walking up to two hours to get there. In 2019, we won a Made to Play grant [set up by Nike and Gurls Talk, a non-profit that promotes the mental wellbeing of young women], which enabled us to hire Jeeps for transport to and from the club, and membership doubled. Chitral has Pakistan’s highest suicide rate, and a large number are young women. Many are from underprivileged backgrounds, so football gives them a fresh perspective. It teaches and unifies them. The club created itself through the joy of playing.

Your work earned you a place on Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30 Asia’ list…

I was proud to see my name among inspiring leaders such as [Japanese tennis ace] Naomi Osaka. The first thing I did was call my father, who couldn’t hold back his tears. Before, I was considered crazy for pursuing my dream, but as the first Chitrali to feature in Forbes I made headline news in Pakistan and that helped to positively change the perception of women’s participation in sports. Earlier this year, I was selected as a member of the first National Youth Council of Pakistan. I hope to use this to empower young women.

You must be doing plenty right – you’ve stirred up the trolls…

Back then, those hateful words were so upsetting that I shut down my social media channels for two months. The insults continue: after the Islamabad trials [for the National Women’s Championship] I received a lot of abuse. But you know what? If they didn’t stop the 19-year-old me, they have no chance of doing so today. No one is going to stand in my way. I’m crazy right now. Twitter: @karishmaAli22

when FIFA suspended the Pakistan Football Federation due to a political dispute. But hurdles have never stopped this young woman. As well as her sports academy, she runs a craft centre for Chitral’s female artisans, helping them to generate their own income by collaborating with fashion designers. In 2019, their intricate embroideries appeared on the dresses of Italian couturier Stella Jean during Milan Fashion Week. That same year, Ali featured on Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30 Asia’ list of young entrepreneurs.

Now, having completed a degree in business and management from the University of London in Islamabad, she’s intent on improving sports infrastructure in the Chitral region. “I want to build a stadium for these girls and take the sports club to many other valleys. Change doesn’t come overnight, but football is much more than a game – it’s a tool that brings positive change to communities.”

the red bulletin: Football isn’t an obvious hobby for a Chitrali girl…

karishma ali: I have my father to thank. We watched the 2006 World Cup together and soon I was outside kicking anything I could. He’s very open-minded and I was encouraged to go for it. In 2002, he helped found Chitral’s first English-medium school. If parents wanted their sons educated, they had to enroll their daughters, too. It was in high school that I really progressed as a footballer. Before class, I’d kick the ball around in my salwar kameez [traditional Pakistani dress and trousers]. I didn’t care if I looked sweaty or ‘unpretty’.

Did you know how popular your first football camp would be?

I printed only 20 enrolment forms, but the girls photocopied them, so the group ended up much larger. I realised they were ready to fight

“I’d kick the ball around before class. I didn’t care if I looked ‘unpretty’”