UAE Women's Side Hits 9-0 in the AFC Women's Champions League

What happened in Uzbekistan

Banaat, representing the UAE, were drawn into Group C of the 2026-27 AFC Women's Champions League preliminary stage alongside hosts Nasaf of Uzbekistan, Royal Thimphu College of Bhutan and Master of Laos, with every group game played in Uzbekistan. After opening with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Royal Thimphu College, in which Salha Rashid Al Zaabi grabbed a late equaliser, the UAE side turned on the style against Master and ran out 9-0 winners at the Central Stadium in Qarshi.

According to Al Khaleej's match report, the goals were shared around, with Sabreen Mamay leading the way on a hat-trick, Elizabeth Forshaw adding two, and Salha Rashed, Shujoun Al Shehhi and Isabella da Silva also on the scoresheet alongside an own goal. The win keeps Banaat firmly in the hunt: they now face Uzbekistan's Nasaf in a decider for top spot in the group, with the leaders progressing to join the tournament's higher-ranked clubs in the group stage.

Women's football is growing fast in the UAE

A result like this does not appear from nowhere. UAE women's football has been building steadily for years, from grassroots academies to a proper women's league and now clubs testing themselves against the best in Asia. For anyone who has ever wondered whether there is a place for them in the game here, the honest answer is yes, and there are more entry points than ever, whether you want to compete or simply play for fun and fitness.

The best part is that you do not need to have grown up with a ball at your feet. Plenty of women come to football in their twenties, thirties and beyond, drawn in by the mix of teamwork, cardio and genuine skill-building. What every one of them needs, though, is a base of physical conditioning, and that is something you can start building today.

The conditioning behind a 9-0

Watch any dominant football performance and you are really watching fitness expressed as skill. Three qualities do most of the work.

Agility and change of direction

Football is rarely run in a straight line. It is short bursts, sharp turns, and reacting to the ball and the player in front of you. Repeated-sprint work, ladder and cone drills, and change-of-direction training build the ankles, knees and reaction speed that let a player accelerate away and stop under control.

Endurance that lasts 90 minutes

A footballer covers real distance across a match, most of it as repeated efforts rather than a steady jog. Aerobic base work plus interval training, the kind of engine you build in a HIIT session, is what keeps the legs and the decision-making sharp in the final ten minutes when games are won.

Strength that protects you

Lower-body and core strength is what stands behind a firm tackle, a powerful shot and, just as importantly, staying injury-free. Squats, hinges, single-leg work and core stability give you a body that holds up to the twists, sprints and contacts of a full season.

• Agility: short sprints, direction changes, footwork drills.
• Endurance: steady runs plus intervals to build a repeatable engine.
• Strength: legs and core for power and injury resilience.

How to start playing football as a woman in the UAE

You do not have to choose between the gym and the pitch. The smartest first move is to arrive at your first session already able to run, turn and last, so the football itself is the fun part rather than the hard part. Here is a simple order to follow.

1. Build a base with two or three weeks of easy running, interval conditioning and light strength work.
2. Learn the movements that transfer to the pitch in the exercise library, from lunges to core stability.
3. Find a women's academy, community kickabout or club side and simply turn up; most welcome complete beginners.
4. If you want to train around other women first, a ladies-only gym space is a comfortable place to build confidence before your first session.

If you would rather have a plan built for you, a personal trainer can map your first eight weeks around exactly the agility, endurance and strength that football asks for.

Your move: turn watching into playing

Banaat's 9-0 is a reminder of how far the women's game has come here, and how much fun there is to be had chasing it yourself. The pitch will wait; your fitness does not have to. Join GymNation today and start building the engine that makes your first football session feel easy.

Sources:

alkhaleej.ae
the-afc.com
en.wikipedia.org
voiceofemirates.com

The opinions shared in the GymNation blog articles are solely those of the respective authors and may not represent the perspectives of GymNation or any member of the GymNation team.