SHARJAH: She is humble and charming. She is like any other girl, but make no mistake with her modest appearance. 

She is Modhi Al Ali, a young Emirati girl who has become part of Manchester City FC’s global campaign to get more women playing football.

Modhi is 15. She aims to become a professional footballer.  Modhi said, “Football is my puzzle’s missing piece, it completes me and is the first on my mind since childhood.  It’s the only thing I talk about, think or dream of.”

The campaign video was filmed in the UAE telling the story of how she took up the sport as a young girl and the progress she has made.

Modhi added, “Football makes me feel fast and strong. It might be difficult to become a professional football player, but yet I must not give up on my ambitions and dreams. What’s best about football is meeting new people and interacting with professional players which help develop my abilities.”

The video pans around different football fields, showing Modhi taking shots and dribbling with the ball.

She said in the clip, “Being a part of the team is a great enthusiastic feeling, and football brings the ladies together from different places of the world. I'm Modhi, 15 years old.”

The Manchester City FC is running a campaign to encourage more and more females to take up the sport.

Their campaign slogan reads, “Give a girl a ball and you’ll have a football player…” with a trending hashtag “#SameGoals.”

Modhi is now being trained at City Football Schools.  She said football has helped her develop both on and off the pitch.

Meanwhile, close to 2,000 girls, boys and parents enjoyed a day of fun and football at the #SameGoals Football Festival at the City Football Academy recently.

The Festival included the #SameGoals Football Tournament and Football Clinics delivered by our Manchester City coaches. There was also the regular Man City Kids fan zone activities including photos with all the trophies, to name a few.