We know that giving girls access to sports doesn’t just make them good at sports. It empowers them in other areas of their lives and offers opportunities for development that they might not otherwise have access to. This is something recognised by the Gilgit-Baltistan Girls Football League.
Gilgit-Baltistan Girls Football League (GBGFL) is the first ever league for girls in the North of Pakistan. Founded in 2018 by sisters Sumaira and Karishma Inayat, GBGFL aims to provide sports opportunities for girls alongside their education. Not just a place to play, the league also covers all the costs of taking part, including accommodation, travel, food and kits, ensuring that financial barriers don’t stand in the way of talent.
Football is not particularly common in Pakistan in general. Cricket takes the majority of the country’s attention (and funds) and overshadows other sports. This is even more so in the remote northern region of Gilgit Baltistan, where there is not even one proper football ground available. For the league, the girls play on uneven, stony ground and injuries are quite common. However, this doesn’t stop people coming together and taking part. GBGFL includes eight teams for girls ages 12-23, all coming from different villages in the area. The girls also attend an annual week-long soccer camp, and the community comes to cheer at their matches.
Despite the lack of resources, Gilgit-Baltistan, especially the Hunza district, has produced a number of professional female athletes, among them are cricketer Diana Baig, and Vice-Captain of Pakistan national football team, Malika-e-Noor.
“I believe that if the girls are provided better opportunities, nothing can stop them from achieving their goals.” - Karishma Inayat
Co-founders Karishma and Sumaira are from a small village nestled against breathtaking mountains (seriously, I mean look at these photos!). With a population of around 2,000, there were not many opportunities for girls to become involved in sports. Karishma and Sumaira were lucky that their father taught the girls how to play and encouraged their interest. This interest did not go to waste, with Karishma going on to join clubs in Lahore and Karachi, Sumaira getting a full sports scholarship to the University of the Punjab in Lahore and both taking part in the 2016 Jubilee Games, an international sports competition for Ismaili Muslims held in Dubai. It was here where they first decided to launch the league, believing that other girls should be given the same access and opportunities that they had.
They were right. Some of the league’s players have gone on to secure sport-based scholarships in different colleges and universities around the country and are working hard to make a name in the field. The league has received international recognition and, in 2021, the National Women Team’s former vice captain, Hajra Khan, selected 25 players from the GBGFL for a fully sponsored professional five-day football training camp at Passu Valley.
We love to see young women use their passions and talents to bring up those around them and the Inayat sisters have certainly done that! We’re sure that plenty of exciting football talent will continue to come out of Pakistan largely in part because of the Gilgit-Baltistan Girls Football League.
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