Honey, football changed my life | Honey Thaljieh | TEDxZurich

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. We all have multiple identities that we are born with or that we acquire throughout our lives, like gender, nationality, religion, etc.
These identities often come with prejudices and stereotypes, as well as physical constraints and emotional pressure. As a Palestinian, Arab, Christian, young woman, playing football, and living under occupation, Honey found walls all around her, physical, social, and emotional barriers. Her identity was her prison. But Honey emphasizes that her freedom could only come from that very identity. This is the story of how Honey found freedom in her otherwise imprisoning identities.

Most football fans in the Arab world would struggle to name the captain of Palestine’s men’s football team, but ask them who led the country’s first-ever women’s team and they would roar out her name in unified pride. Honey Thaljieh grew up in Bethlehem, Palestine where football was not a considered a sport for females. Even while confined by a physical wall, Honey Thaljieh has broken through the barriers of political oppression, social and cultural challenges to become a poignant voice for empowerment and equality through sport. As the co-founder of women’s football in Palestine, the first captain of the Palestinian national football team, the first woman in the Middle East to obtain a FIFA Master and to be employed by FIFA (Fédération International de Football Association), Honey is a role model to women and girls throughout the Arab world and an inspiration to all who dream to live life abundantly.

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