Alayah Pilgrim
Personal information
Date of birth (2003-04-29) 29 April 2003
Place of birth Muri, Switzerland
Height 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Zürich
Number 7
Youth career
2012–2017 FC Muri
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2020 Aarau 27 (18)
2020–2022 Basel 34 (13)
2022– Zürich 37 (11)
International career‡
2018–2019 Switzerland U16 5 (1)
2019–2020 Switzerland U17 6 (7)
2021 Switzerland U19 3 (2)
2023– Switzerland 4 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:35, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:35, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Alayah Pilgrim (Arabic: عالية بيلكريم; born 29 April 2003) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a forward for Zürich and the Switzerland women's national team.

Club career

Pilgrim is a youth product of her local club FC Mura. She wasn't allowed to play football as a youngster, and so secretly started playing with Mura until a coach intervened and convinced her family. She played with the boys until the maximum allowable age, as the club did not have a women's section.[1] In 2017 she began her senior career with Aarau in the Ligue Nationale B at the age of 15.[2] In 2020 at the age of 17, she moved to Basel on a 2-year contract.[3]

On 10 October 2022, Pilgrim moved to Zürich, where she played in the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time.[4] She helped Zürich win the 2022–23 Swiss Women's Super League, scoring in the final - a 3–0 win over Servette FC Chênois Féminin on 2 June 2023.[5]

International career

Pilgrim was born in Switzerland to a Moroccan father and Swiss mother.[6] She was a youth international for Switzerland, having played up to the Switzerland U19s. In August 2022, she was called up to the Morocco women's national team for the first time.[7] She declined the invitation, as she received it last minute and didn't have time to decide.[6] A couple of months later in October 2022, she was called up to the Switzerland women's national team for the first time, but did not make an appearance.[8]

Just before the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, she opted to formally represent Switzerland internationally. She debuted with them as a substitute in a UEFA Women's Nations League loss to Italy in September 2023.[9]

Honours

Zürich

Personal life

Pilgrim studied as a health professional and had an internship at the Muri Hospital in the summer of 2021.[10] Outside of football, she also works as an influencer.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Pour pouvoir jouer au foot, Alayah Pilgrim devait s'entraîner en cachette". watson.ch/fr.
  2. ↑ Mori, Leandro De (28 October 2018). "Fussball Frauen - Vier Tore innert 16 Minuten: Die 15-jährige Alayah Pilgrim schiesst Aarau gegen Therwil ins Glück". Aargauer Zeitung.
  3. ↑ "Baselundregion.ch traf die aufgestellte FC Basel Fussballerin Alayah Pilgrim und stellte ihr acht Fragen". CONTENT HUB | baselundregion.ch. 10 December 2021.
  4. ↑ "Pilgrim wechselt zum Meister". www.derfreiaemter.ch.
  5. ↑ "Women's Super League: Servette Chênois s'incline à nouveau en finale contre Zurich". RTSSport.ch. 2 June 2023.
  6. 1 2 Bahechar, Hakim (7 July 2023). "Entretien avec la footballeuse professionnelle Alayah Pilgrim «C'est un privilège d'être courtisée par le Maroc»".
  7. ↑ "تجمع إعدادي للمنتخب الوطني لكرة القدم النسوية – FRMF". 1 January 1970.
  8. ↑ "26 joueuses dans la dernière sélection de Nils Nielsen". Association Suisse de Football (in French). Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  9. ↑ "Équipe nationale féminine : défaite contre l'Italie pour le début de la Ligue des Nations". Association Suisse de Football (in French). Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  10. 1 2 "Porträt einer Fussballerin, die du kennen musst". watson.ch.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.