You know you’ve wound up in a male-dominated industry when your peers nickname you “the football girl”. This was the case for Diana Al Shammari, a sports fanatic since childhood who was born and raised in Iraq. “Football wasn’t really seen as something for girls at the time, especially where I grew up,” she remembers. “But I was obsessed with it anyway.” 

When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, it became too dangerous to go outside, let alone play football. “After the war began, football mostly existed through television and imagination for me,” says Al Shammari. “That probably made it even more powerful. It represented freedom, escape, community and possibility.” Aged seven, her and her family were forced to flee Baghdad for Cairo, before relocating to LA when she was a teenager.

As a child, she was obsessed with the football anime series Captain Tsubasa, and made a habit of stealing her brother’s jerseys. When she wasn’t watching the beautiful game, she was playing it – she used football to make friends and relied on it for a sense of normalcy. “Moving between countries as a refugee, football became the constant,” she says. “It shaped my creativity, my friendships and even the way I understand culture and identity. It helped me make sense of the world.” 

Soon, “the football girl” evolved into The Football Gal. She moved to London and started vlogging, blogging, interviewing and writing for online football platforms. Today, her Instagram account (@thefootballgal) stands at 166k followers, but the type of work she does has completely changed. She’s no longer a commentator, but an embroiderer. And she’s worked with some of the world’s biggest sports brands: adidas, Mercedes, Supreme... you name it. 

“I use embroidery and design to transform garments, especially football shirts, into pieces that tell emotional, cultural and personal stories,” Al Shammari explains. “A lot of my work explores identity, memory, belonging and the relationship between football and creativity.” 

She first dabbled in embroidery in 2017, when her sister came home with a football kit that was in desperate need of some jazzing-up. She decorated it with delicate floral stitching, and from there, began reworking vintage kits. Since then, her fanbase has grown to include global celebrities and athletes. FC Barcelona’s Jules Koundé has worn Al Shammari’s designs, as have F1 drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. Even the president of the International Olympics Committee, Kirsty Coventry, wore an embroidered bomber jacket to the Winter Olympics’ closing ceremony. 

But beyond dressing familiar faces, the designer describes her biggest pinch-me moment as working with adidas on last year’s Predator project (the famous football boots, first launched in 1994). “That collaboration was probably the most personal project I’ve worked on,” she says. “The Predator is such an iconic piece of football history, so being trusted to reinterpret it through my own lens felt surreal.” 

She finds inspiration in designers that have managed to successfully bridge the worlds of sport and luxury fashion – she cites Grace Wales Bonner as an example. Mostly, however, it’s the major tournaments that provide a wealth of creative inspiration, and up next is the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 

“I can’t say too much yet, but there are definitely a few projects and ideas in development around the World Cup,” she admits. “The World Cup is one of the few moments where football genuinely feels global. I’ll obviously be emotionally invested in Iraq, but I also just love the atmosphere, the storytelling and the unexpected moments.” Fingers crossed, some of those surprise moments will be players wearing Al Shammari’s designs on the pitch.