ZURICH—After her resounding victory at the 2020 FISU eSports Challenge Football, Najd Fahd of Saudi Arabia sat down with our friends at FIFA.com not only chat about her inaugural university eSports title, but as the first Saudi woman ever to win an international e-football title.
Quick thinking and fast fingers on screen don’t just happen overnight—FIFA.com mentioned that Najd started playing interactive football games since she was just seven years old. Years later, the Economics student at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University Riyadh trains for more than one hour per day.
“Besides winning the title, I learned how to cope with the immense pressure that comes with competitions,” Najd told FIFA.com. “This has helped me in my personal life too.”
Adding to the pressure of the FISU eSports Challenge Football, almost 1000 spectators tuned into the livestream on Twitch to watch Najd and her opponent battle it out for the top spot, where Fahad’s waves of attack produced non-stop goals. The 18-year old took her lead from 2-0 at halftime to an astonishing 8-0 win by the end of full time.
Following her bold victory, Saudi Arabia has seen an increased participation in these online sports. Most of all, Najd hopes that this experience inspires girls and women in particular to continue their participation in the online sport.
“I think this achievement will motivate more girls to try FIFA20 and will encourage both the community and the authorities in charge of electronic games to give more support to girls who want play them,” she mentioned.
Najd in the women’s final of the 2020 FISU eSports Challenge Football
Next up for the champion is the road to the prestigious FIFA eWorld Cup (FeWC), with hopes of being the first Saudi woman to take part in the Grand Final. She hopes to follow in the footsteps of fellow Saudi Arabian Mosaad Aldossary, who managed to reach the final in the last two editions.
“In two years, my goal is to have my name in the world ranking and to participate in the FeWC qualifiers,” Najd said. “If I manage to do this, it will be a great achievement to add to what I’ve already done,” she added.
Although the 2020 FISU eSports Challenge came to an end, Najd continues to make her own dreams a reality, literally changing the game as we know it for the nation of Saudi Arabia.
Original article with the full story here courtesy of FIFA.com.
All final results for the 2020 FISU eSports Challenge Football can be found here.
