International Football: My Experience Part I
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As some of you may already know, last year in November, I became an international footballer when I made my debut for the Libyan national team in a friendly match against Niger. To many, it represents quite an interesting and unique story into the international football fold.
Growing up during the 1990’s when Big Jack got us to two World Cups in Italia 1990 and America ’94, I was hooked. I loved football and everything about it, especially watching the Irish national team play. I think it’s safe to say every young lad in Ireland at the time whether they played football or not had dreams of playing for the national football team and putting on the green, white and orange jersey. The atmosphere and buzz around the Irish national football team during the 90’s was somewhat special.
To an extent, I realised that dream to play for Ireland when I represented the country at U20 and U21 level. When I was 19 years of age, I was called into the Irish U20 team by Brian Kerr for a friendly tournament in Dubai. It was my first involvement with the Irish international set up and it was an extremely proud moment for me.
I went on to earn more caps for Ireland when I played in the U20 World Youth Cup in Dubai in 2003. That team consisted of names such as Kevin Doyle, Keith Fahy, Stephen Elliot and Steven Kelly; all of whom have gone on to play for the senior team.
Shortly after that tournament, I made my U21 international debut for Ireland against Scotland. My favourite part of representing the Irish team was walking out onto the pitch and standing up straight, chests proudly out as the national anthem is played prior to kick off. The excitement and range of emotions at that moment is unrivalled and something I thought I would never get to feel again.
I could easily go on and write pages and pages about representing Ireland and my experiences about it. All I will say for now however is that it is a time in my career that I am so, so proud of and it is something that I will never ever forget, a dream come true.
I am using the word “dream” a lot here but that is what international football is all about in my opinion. When you play in an international match, not only are you representing yourself, your family and friends but your representing a whole country and carrying their dreams and hopes onto the pitch with you.
So how did I end up playing international football for Libya then? Well, I qualified to play for Libya through my father. Despite being born in Tunisia, my Dad’s parents were both born and bred in Libya. Therefore, I qualified to play for Libya, along with Ireland and Tunisia obviously.
The Libyan Football Federation has been aware of my background ever since I represented Ireland at the U’20 world Youth Cup with journalists from North Africa picking up on my second name whilst I was over there. They expressed an interest over the years but nothing came to fruition until last summer when a Brazilian coach became the new manager of the Libyan football national team.
After appointment, he initiated a search for new players outside of Libya, concentrating on European based players with Libyan roots and that when my name came up. After getting in touch with me, via my Father, the Libyan Football Federation told me that they wanted me to represent their national team in the future and after very short consideration and not much hesitation, I said I would love to.
What happened over the few months following that is too long to outlay in this week’s article so I will continue next week and explain how I got called up for the African Cup of Nations qualifying group game against Zambia in September of last year and how some people tried to prevent me from going over. Trust me; it is something worth reading next week!
Growing up during the 1990’s when Big Jack got us to two World Cups in Italia 1990 and America ’94, I was hooked. I loved football and everything about it, especially watching the Irish national team play. I think it’s safe to say every young lad in Ireland at the time whether they played football or not had dreams of playing for the national football team and putting on the green, white and orange jersey. The atmosphere and buzz around the Irish national football team during the 90’s was somewhat special.
To an extent, I realised that dream to play for Ireland when I represented the country at U20 and U21 level. When I was 19 years of age, I was called into the Irish U20 team by Brian Kerr for a friendly tournament in Dubai. It was my first involvement with the Irish international set up and it was an extremely proud moment for me.
I went on to earn more caps for Ireland when I played in the U20 World Youth Cup in Dubai in 2003. That team consisted of names such as Kevin Doyle, Keith Fahy, Stephen Elliot and Steven Kelly; all of whom have gone on to play for the senior team.
Shortly after that tournament, I made my U21 international debut for Ireland against Scotland. My favourite part of representing the Irish team was walking out onto the pitch and standing up straight, chests proudly out as the national anthem is played prior to kick off. The excitement and range of emotions at that moment is unrivalled and something I thought I would never get to feel again.
I could easily go on and write pages and pages about representing Ireland and my experiences about it. All I will say for now however is that it is a time in my career that I am so, so proud of and it is something that I will never ever forget, a dream come true.
I am using the word “dream” a lot here but that is what international football is all about in my opinion. When you play in an international match, not only are you representing yourself, your family and friends but your representing a whole country and carrying their dreams and hopes onto the pitch with you.
So how did I end up playing international football for Libya then? Well, I qualified to play for Libya through my father. Despite being born in Tunisia, my Dad’s parents were both born and bred in Libya. Therefore, I qualified to play for Libya, along with Ireland and Tunisia obviously.
The Libyan Football Federation has been aware of my background ever since I represented Ireland at the U’20 world Youth Cup with journalists from North Africa picking up on my second name whilst I was over there. They expressed an interest over the years but nothing came to fruition until last summer when a Brazilian coach became the new manager of the Libyan football national team.
After appointment, he initiated a search for new players outside of Libya, concentrating on European based players with Libyan roots and that when my name came up. After getting in touch with me, via my Father, the Libyan Football Federation told me that they wanted me to represent their national team in the future and after very short consideration and not much hesitation, I said I would love to.
What happened over the few months following that is too long to outlay in this week’s article so I will continue next week and explain how I got called up for the African Cup of Nations qualifying group game against Zambia in September of last year and how some people tried to prevent me from going over. Trust me; it is something worth reading next week!
