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DYNAMIC Deena Abdel Rahman, who won England caps at junior level, has taken Bahraini citizenship and aims to help steer the women’s national football team to glory at the forthcoming West Asian Championship staged in Abu Dhabi next month.
After training with the Bahrain national side last year at the Bahrain Football Association headquarters in Riffa, team manager Shaikha Hussa Al Khalifa approached her about the possibilities of joining the set-up full-time.
Rahman, 28, was the top scorer in the inaugural Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain Ladies League with 27 goals and her team Arsenal Yellow won the GulfWeekly Premiership Trophy. She was nicknamed the ‘hat trick queen’ after notching at least three goals in four games ... and in one game alone grabbed eight.
She said: “It was a really easy decision to make to play for Bahrain. I felt very welcomed by the girls and they are a really nice bunch to be involved with. Also, Bahrain is my home. It is such a huge honour to be a part of the national squad and hopefully I can help them become more successful in future tournaments.”
Rahman’s Egyptian father Maher and British mother Dawn both supported her dreams of making a career in football. At eight years of age, Dawn took her for trials at London club Fulham.
It was one of the first professional outfits to set up a programme for football-loving girls and during her teen years she also enjoyed a spell playing with arch-rivals Arsenal.
At the age of 15 she was selected to play for England’s Under-16s and was quickly recruited by the nation’s under-18s where she gained a further 18 caps.
FIFA, which governs world football, allows players to play for an adopted country provided they have not played at a senior international level for their home country.
Rahman’s first footballing wish came true when she signed a professional contract with Fulham Ladies, under the chairmanship of flamboyant Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Ankle injuries then left her on the sidelines and she moved to Egypt with her dad who encouraged her to continue playing. Rahman signed up for the Wadi Degla Club, associated with the Arsenal Soccer School in Egypt. During her time there she also took up coaching and helped the Under-20 national team.
After one year of playing with the club, Rahman suffered an agonising injury. She ruptured a ligament in her knee and had to return to England for rehabilitation.
While in England she continued her coaching development with Arsenal which led to an opportunity to join the new soccer school in Bahrain. Rahman moved to the kingdom in 2010 where she started coaching boys and girls from the ages of five to 19. She also developed a ladies programme and the league.
Now she is balancing her coaching role at Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain and training with the Bahrain women’s national team. Rahman lives in Saar and is engaged to soccer school director, Paul Shipwright.
She said: “Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain has been brilliant in allowing me to commit so much time to the national team training programme. I really want to do well and achieve great results for both.”
Rahman made her debut last weekend in an international friendly against India at Al Ahli Club’s stadium in Mahooz.
The highly-rated Indian women’s national team was invited by the Bahrain Football Association to help the team prepare for its campaign in Abu Dhabi from October 3-12
Although India won 2-1, Bahrain head coach Khaled Al Harban said he was ‘satisfied’ with the level of performance after a lengthy fixture break and he believes Rahman will be a huge asset to the squad. A second friendly was played yesterday and a third game is scheduled for Friday.
