Coaching at the first-ever IFAF African continental championships will be the latest milestone on a long road to breaking down cultural barriers and opening doors for women to play American football for Fouzia Madhouni.
The IFAF NFL Global Flag Football Ambassador will lead Morocco’s women’s team at IFAF Africa Flag 2025 in Cairo and will be the only female head coach orchestrating a nation’s fortunes from the sidelines.
Madhouni was first introduced to American football by a university classmate and eagerly joined a team, attending practices, but she soon came across the first of those barriers.
“When the guys started the scrimmage, the girls went to the sideline, so I found it really unfair,” she says. “I felt more like a cheerleader than a football player. I told them: ‘either we’re going to play, or we’re going to form or own team’. They didn’t believe me.”
An initial two members began training before numbers soon increased to 20 players and beyond. They eventually created the biggest club team in Morocco.
“We didn't have any equipment, we didn't have balls,” Madhouni explains. “We started playing at the beach it was a really hard time, a real struggle, me asking girls to come to practice American football. They thought that I'm insane. Parents, including my mom, didn't think that American football was a good thing.
“But when I think something is right and I'm not hurting anyone and I'm doing it for the good of the people surrounded by me, why am I going to stop?
“Struggle makes you a better person. The people who said no to me, who didn’t like who I am or where I came from, they gave me the motivation to carry on.”
But then came another barrier and this time, a life-threatening one. Madhouni suddenly experienced problems walking up the stairs and assuming something was wrong, consulted a doctor. She was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.
“I always knew that I would be strong, and I could go back to the field and do a lot more,” says Madhouni, who undertook chemotherapy treatment, but could no longer play flag football. She did, however, return to the sidelines and in 2021 launched her own ‘We Can Morocco’ academy to inspire others to follow in her footsteps and pick up a flag football.
“Growing football, it doesn't mean always to be a professional player,” she adds. “You can impact the game by being outside the field on the field and now I’ve changed my perspective from a player to an entrepreneur and coach.”
The women’s team heading to Cairo and hoping to secure a place at next year’s IFAF World Championships held tryouts in France and Morocco for experienced flag football players and sourced new talent with backgrounds in basketball and rugby.
“We all coach to win, but how we win matters,” says Madhouni of the upcoming continental championships. “Respect the opponent, honor the grind, and play so hard they remember you. Kindness doesn’t mean soft. Competitors aren’t enemies. Leave your mark on the scoreboard, sure but leave it on your teammates, too.
“Football isn’t just a game; it’s where we build toughness, IQ, and a brotherhood and sisterhood that lasts. This is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to see how the sport grows.”
Morocco will make history by playing in the first-ever competitive women’s game in an IFAF international tournament on African soil against hosts Egypt at 11.15am local time this Friday, June 20. In the moment when her team takes to the field, those years of fighting against perceptions of women in sport will be further vindicated.
“I am a living example that girls can achieve anything they want,” says Madhouni. “When I think about the younger version of me, all I see is lack of opportunities. The future that I couldn’t have; they can have it.”
