JAFA - The global road trip to the UEFA Women's final at Wembley 2022!
Merely 24 hours remain and there are several continents for the co-founder of JAFA, Judan Ali to travel through from Seoul in South Korea to make it in time for a 5 pm kick off at the UEFA WOMEN'S European Final 2022 at Wembley Stadium. There he will watch his two co-founders of the Judan Ali Football Academy go head to head in the UEFA Women's Final between England and Germany in London.
JAFA - the Judan Ali Football Academy - which has now turned into a global brand, due to the speed the female game has accelerated in popularity since inception in 2019. Then co-founders Jess Carter and AnnKatrin Berger made it to the launch of the academy which is a non-profit organization initially set up in London's East End for girls from deprived backgrounds to participate in playing football just for fun and also to give them a chance to experience what we know boys and men have taken for granted for decades in playing the beautiful game.
Judan Ali, former Barcelona and Arsenal legend, speaks to us exclusively in mid-flight from Korean Air's new fully media wifi-equipped business class cabin: "For me to witness the success of Jessica and AnnKatrins from their playing days at Birmingham City Women's team to Chelsea Women's football club and now to face one another on opposite sides representing their beloved countries, England and Germany in this colossal game has brought a tear to my eye. I have no allegiances to which country wins as I whole-heartedly support the ladies both equally and whichever nation wins for me, Jess and AnnKatrin are winners."
Judan is currently working on an ongoing project over in South Korea after setting up JAFA in Seoul searching for the next Son Heun Min as he embarks on his 24 hour trip to the world's footballing iconic field of dreams that is, Wembley Stadium along with his Head of European operations manager of JAFA, Audrius Cecetas who is also working on a project to search for Lithuanian talented girls to form a team that can compete against the best women in Europe.
Lithuania is another nation that has taken inspiration from the influence that #JAFA has had.
Audrius has been approached by several Lithuanian men's clubs who want to form and develop their female academies as they recognize the massive potential there is to compete at top-flight European football which now there is still a gap as women's football is relatively new in the Baltics.
However, Judan feels that women's football will catch up with the men's game within the next 2 years across Europe and it won't be so easy to set up a Women's team and enter elite leagues such as the women's UEFA Champions League due to the rapid growth.
England v Germany - Kick-off is at 5 pm Sunday 31st July at Wembley Stadium
JAFA Instagram @jafacademy
Follow Judan's journey in football on his socials:
IG: @ali_judan_
Twitter @JudanAli