Exclusive: Jordanian trailblazer Maysa Jbarah opens up on trophies, Marta and Saudi vs Europe | OneFootball

Jordan forward Maysa Jbarah personifies the word legend. It’s a label used far too often in sporting terms, but with more international goals than Messi or Marta, it suits this particular player well.

The Kuwaiti-born Jordanian has a career spanning 25 years. She has played across the globe in places like France, Türkiye, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. She has no intention of leaving the sport she has so heavily impacted just yet, either.

Being one of the most successful footballers to grace the game, you’d expect a player who has scored 137 international goals — the fourth highest in the history of women’s football — to be a household name.

Maysa Jbarah is an icon of Middle Eastern football, having represented Jordan 133 times and scored 137 goals. The fact not many European football fans would know Jbarah’s magnitude is definitive proof of an unconscious (or perhaps conscious) bias towards players from the Middle East and North Africa.

Jbarah now represents NEOM, competing in the Saudi First Division League. Saudi Arabia isn’t a new environment for the Jordanian legend, won the top tier of Saudi football twice in 2023 and 2024 with Al Nassr.

The European dream has a long way to come

For most Middle Eastern, African and American players, European football is often heralded as the dream destination to play football. However, unless you are a leading player from a top 15 FIFA nation, it often plays out a lot differently.

Jbarah spent two years in France, alongside a season in Türkiye. Whil representing both Grenoble and Thonon Évian, the skillful forward encountered the same challenge, funding.

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“It was 2018, and it was very difficult. The main problem was the teams were paying such little amounts of money to the players and myself,” Jbarah told Her Football Hub. “It was a very good way for me to gain more experience, but even then I was getting older, you know, and I couldn’t survive on the amounts that clubs in Europe were offering.”

It’s a familiar story to players outside of the big teams across Europe. The average earning for a player even in a league as established and publicised as the Women’s Super League in England is £47,000 per annum. This average also draws from world-leading players like Chelsea’s Sam Kerr, who earns an estimated £739,000 over the same period.

“It was even difficult to get to games. The clubs couldn’t afford to fly us to fixtures, so at times we were taking a bus for eight or nine hours to get to a game,” Jbarah continued.

Things went from bad to worse when the Jordanian accepted an offer from Turkish Women’s Super League side Ankara.

Lucy Bronze & Maysa Jbarah face off in 2020.

“It was a really tough experience, also. They didn’t pay us and they would try to fool us and say the payment is coming and there have been problems. It’s why I left there — it was a big problem for me and the other players.”

Is the European influx of players damaging Saudi football?

Alongside the surge of funding into women’s football in Saudi, the sport is also seeing an influx in European-based players. Barclays Women’s Super League players such as Leighanne Robe, formerly of Liverpool, ex-Leicester City star Ashleigh Plumptre, and Sarah Bouhaddi, who represented Olympique Lyonnais for 13 years, are all currently playing in the Saudi leagues. Jbarah was quick to outline the failures of relying on foreign talent.

“It was sudden. Everyone wanted to bring in these European players. To me, it doesn’t mean if you are European you are going to play better football, it’s a challenge.

“I have my records that prove the kind of player I am. It’s disappointing when you get told, ‘there’s nothing wrong with you tactically or on performance, we just want some more Europeans in that position’. It’s hard to hear.”

Image: Al Nassr 2024.

Jbarah made the move to NEOM, a fairly new team in the Saudi second division, to once again prove that she belongs at the top, alongside many other athletes from the region.

‘Marta is getting better and better, I won’t stop yet either’

Having amassed such a stellar number of international appearances for Jordan at 35 years old, the question naturally arises, when does retirement become something to consider?

“It’s an honour for me to present my country for 130 games,” Jbarah said. “When I look back to the games I played it’s like, wow, it’s been like 500 years.”

2021 WAFF World Championship.

Jbarah recalls the 20-year period between current day and her international debut against Bahrain in 2005. Despite being on the international stage for two decades, retirement can wait for now.

“When I look at Marta and she’s playing and now she’s getting better and better… She is my role model to just keep going and pushing for more from myself. I never forget any moment playing for the national team, or any moment playing football, or choosing this, this way of life, this career.”

It’s athletes like Jbarah who ensure young women and girls continue to become inspired to play sport in the Middle East and North Africa.

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