“He always encouraged me. He actually paid a professional coach in Lebanon. I was really skilled and he was like ‘give her special training sessions. I want her to get better and better.'”

But when Aya grew older, her father had second thoughts.

"He was like 'you've had enough of football, and now you have to look forward to your education. You have to get married.'"

But Aya did not stop. Eventually her father gave in.

Today, Aya El Ammouri is one of her country’s top women players.

She and her teammates attended the Discover Football program this year. It brings together about 100 women every summer. The women play soccer and talk about how to improve football and women’s rights. It is also an opportunity for the next generation of leaders to meet each other.

Nadia Assaf is one of the founders of another soccer organization, called Girls Football Academy. It is Lebanon’s first women’s soccer school. She says before she started the school five years ago, women’s soccer was not taken seriously in Lebanon.

"It's like a side thing, just to say that they have a women's quote-unquote 'team.' Actually, they never took us seriously. Women were never the priority. We never really got equipment. We never got fields, proper coaches, etc. etc."

Nadia says she and her co-founder decided to start a school just for female soccer players. That way, young women could really have the resources they deserved.