Egypt international Sarah Essam has opened up about her difficult experience playing for Halifax Women in the third tier of English football, highlighting the challenges faced by players from lower-ranked nations on student visas.
Essam, 26, joined Halifax in February on a student visa and scored six goals in 11 matches to help the club avoid relegation. She agreed to stay on for the new season after a verbal agreement over accommodation and expenses, but says the reality fell short.
She was placed in a child's bedroom in a scruffy house in Rotherham, an hour from the training ground, with broken furniture and overflowing bins. After complaining, she moved to a hotel at her own expense and felt the club's attitude changed. She returned to Cairo on 31 August.
Essam, who previously played for Stoke City and was a 2022 World Cup ambassador, said the club offered a small goodwill payment after an internal investigation, but only if she returned her training kit. She stressed that while some people at the club were good, she felt let down by one director.
She wrote about her experience to underline the struggles faced by players from low-ranked nations, saying: 'What if that experience had happened to a teenage girl, newly arrived in England?'
