From Street Football to the Saudi Pro League: Lina Boussaha on Identity, Ubuntu, and What It Really Takes To be a Professional Footballer

This week's guest is professional footballer Lina Boussaha, currently playing for Al Ittihad in the Saudi Women's Professional League and representing the Algerian national team.

Lina opens up about a journey that began on the streets, playing alongside boys, and led to competing at the highest level of the women's game. She reflects on how those early years — unstructured, joyful, relentless — quietly built the technical ability, mental toughness, and identity that define her today.

This is a conversation about resilience, faith, curiosity, and what it really means to grow as both an athlete and a person. Lina's story is grounded, honest, and full of lessons that go well beyond football.

What You'll Discover

1. Why street football builds world-class players Playing for hours without a clock, without a coach, and without consequence gave Lina something structured training rarely can — close control, creativity, and an instinct for the game that became second nature.

2. How resilience is built before you know you're training Doing it "again and again and again" wasn't a regime. It was just football. But that repetition laid the mental foundations Lina would rely on at every level of her career.

3. Ubuntu and the Al Ittihad way I am because we are. How the spirit of Ubuntu and Al Ittihad's culture of unity shape Lina's understanding of teamwork and leadership — and why no player ever succeeds alone.

4. Keeping joy alive under pressure The shift from carefree street football to the demands of elite competition is real. Lina talks honestly about how to hold onto the love of the game when the stakes get higher.

5. Principles you can take into your own career From embracing discomfort to using your everyday environment as a training ground — practical, transferable lessons for anyone building a career in sport.

Connect with Lina:

Instagram: instagram.com/lina.boussaha

Related Podcasts:

Image Credit: @ittihadladiesclub

The Mind Behind the Game: Lili Iskandar's Journey to Professional Football

This week's podcast special guest is Lili Iskandar, professional football player, who plays as a forward for French club En Avant Guingamp and the Lebanon National Team.

1. What it takes to be a female professional football player

2.Why research matters in the development of women's football

3.Lili shares how getting out of her comfort zone was key to her football development

4. Lili explains the difference between being an amateur and professional football playe

5. You will learn Lili's passion for psychology and her latest football psychology research project

6. Lili shares the power of dreaming big with positive habits and much more

From Carli Lloyd To Rutgers: Glenn Crooks' 50 Years In Women's Football

This week's podcast special guest is with Glenn Crooks, soccer coach, broadcaster, and host of SiriusXM's The Coaching Academy.

With over 50 years in the game as a player, coach, and analyst, Glenn has seen the women's game transform from the ground up.

From calling NYCFC matches to building Rutgers University's Women's Football Programme over 14 years, and coaching the likes of Carli Lloyd and Tobin Heath, his insights are as rich as his career.

In this episode, we explore:

• What 50 years in soccer teaches you about the women's game
• Why language is the key to becoming a great soccer coach
• How Glenn built Rutgers University's women's programme over 14 years
• Glenn's passion for journalism and media in women's football
• What Tobin Heath and Carli Lloyd had in common that made them great football players
• Glenn's new book Put It On Frame — Volume 2 and much more.