Loyola Club Soccer Player Represents Palestine

Fourth-year Emily Ibrahim not only serves as Vice president for Loyola women’s club soccer, but she’s also co-president of the LUC Refugee Coalition and plays for the Palestine women’s national football team.

Ibrahim said she has been playing soccer since she was 3-years-old, and she was recruited to play for the Palestine women’s national team in 2019 when Amer Khair, the team’s head coach at the time, saw her in action during a match for the Palestinian American Athletic Association.

Ibrahim said she began her national career in the youth ranks before being called up to the senior squad in 2021. 

Soccer has always been a part of Ibrahim’s life, but getting to play for the national team is much more than just the game — it’s about representing Palestine, according to Ibrahim.

“To get to represent your country is such an incredible, surreal experience,” Ibrahim said. “But getting to represent people who have been so resilient and have been forced to endure violence, brutality and occupation for decades, that’s an entirely unique experience.”

The team played a match May 15 in Dublin, Ireland against Bohemian FC, an Irish club soccer team. Palestine won 2-1, scoring the winning goal with only 12 minutes left on the clock.

Ibrahim said the Ireland match was her favorite she’s ever played because of its significance and the support from everyone in attendance. The match was held as a remembrance for all Palestinian lives which have been lost since the Oct. 7 attack in Gaza as well as a commemoration of the Nakba — the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to the mass displacement of Palestinians, according to the United Nations.

“To step out onto the field and see all of that support, it was incredibly validating, and it was such an emotional, but surreal experience,” Ibrahim said.

Even fans of Bohemian FC were there in support of the Palestinian team, according to Ibrahim. 

“There were about 5,000 people there and every single person had a Palestinian flag in their hand,” Ibrahim said. “That day, everybody was in solidarity with Palestine.”

Ibrahim recently joined her team in Qatar for matches against Saudi Arabia Nov. 29 and Dec. 3. 

Along with her international play, Ibrahim has been playing as a striker for the women’s club soccer team since her first year, and she was named one of two vice presidents during her second year on the team.

With Ibrahims stacked schedule of academics —  studying political science, economics and global studies — as well as playing sports, she said playing for the club team allows her to maintain a balance in school while also leading the team as co-captain. She said throughout the years, the team has been accommodating with her schedule as well. 

“It’s been a great outlet for me to meet a great group of girls,” Ibrahim said. “It also offers me a balance where I’ve been able to prioritize academics and still get to play with the national team.”

The club season recently came to an end after Loyola lost 2-1 against the University of Michigan and 3-0 against Marquette University at regionals Oct. 26.

Despite the loss, Ibrahim said she’s proud of the hard work the team put in this season, and she said making it to regionals, both in her first and fourth years, has been her favorite memory in being a part of the team.

“To know that we as a team got to make it here and just being very proud of how far we’ve come and getting to enjoy the experience with my teammates is an incredible experience,” Ibrahim said.

In addition to playing for two soccer teams, Ibrahim founded the LUC Refugee Coalition in Feb. 2023 and is co-president of the club.

When Ibrahim was part of the Palestinian American Athletic Association, prior to joining the national team, she said she was able to travel to Palestine and talk to both human rights activists and people in refugee camps. After the visit, she said she was inspired to work with refugees.

“I was in-part inspired by going to that refugee camp, but I was also inspired by my grandparents who were Palestinian refugees,” Ibrahim said. “I kind of grew up with this awareness of the struggles that refugees have not only having to flee their country, but after resettling in a safer location.” 

Ibrahim said starting the refugee coalition at Loyola has allowed her to bring more awareness to different refugee populations, with a specific focus on local groups.

“If you take the time to see what’s going on in our community, the refugee crisis can be everywhere if you really look at it,” Ibrahim said. 

As the club continues to grow, Ibrahim said the group is able to produce more tangible results by being more hands-on in the community.

This year, the group has been able to host a forum regarding the refugee crisis within Chicago, as well as a self-care packaging event, where the club collaborated with the nonprofit organization Girl Forward to send hygiene products to girls in refugee communities. 

Ibrahim said she’s also interned and volunteered at Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America, where she tutored Rohingya refugees and learned more about the disparities within individual refugee communities such as the language barriers in the American education system. She said her internship solidified her passion for helping refugee populations.

“I want to work within the administration side of humanitarian organizations that help refugees,” Ibrahim said. “Maybe some branch of the United Nations or Amnesty International.”

In her final year as a triple major student, Ibrahim said after graduation she eventually wants to go back to school for a joint MBA and master’s degree in international affairs, but her overall goal is to continue her work with refugees.