Judan Ali
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 Judan Ali with FC Midtjylland - Director & Head of Development in 2026 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of birth | Tower Hamlets, London | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | FC Midtjylland | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Arsenal | |||
| Barcelona | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Murcia[1] | |||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Judan Ali is an English football technical director, coach, former player and head of development for Danish Superliga side FC Midtjylland.
He played for Arsenal, Barcelona and Murcia.[2][1]
Ali is the first BAME British National to hold a position of technical director for a FIFA Member Association.[3][4]
Ali was born in Brick Lane, Tower Hamlets, London. He underwent several unfruitful trials at English clubs.[5][6] He was taken on by Arsenal for a two-year stint at the club's academy.[7] He then had a spell at the La Masia Academy of Barcelona. His experiences there eventually influenced his coaching philosophy.[8] Ali went on to sign for Spanish outfit Murcia, with whom he formed a professional career.[6] In 2019, his appointment as technical director for the Maldives Football Association made Ali the first and only BAME British national to hold the position of Technical Director for a FIFA Member Association.[3][4]
Youth coaching
In the summer of 2011, Ali assembled a team of Asian players aged under-15, to compete in the Arsenal International Soccer Festival.[6] The team of 16, which was selected from 20,000 hopefuls,[8] won the under-15 category at Royal Holloway University.[6]
In March 2013, Ali was appointed Head of Elite Football Development in Taiwan. Ali and the Chinese Taipei Football Association say 'The aim is to implement a long-term structure to get all Taiwan's age groups to their respective world championships.' Ali says he intends to qualify all the Chinese Taipei age specific football teams to World Cup Finals.[9][10]
In April 2015, Ali joined the coaching staff of Kitchee SC, which plays in the Hong Kong Premier League.[11]
Community coaching
Ali runs a non-profit all-female football academy, a pre-sports school for young girls, based in London. Ambassadors and co-founders are Ann-Katrin Berger, a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for the English club Chelsea and now for both Gotham FC in New York and the German national team and Jessica Carter who also played for Chelsea and now plays for Gotham FC as well as England's national team.[12][13]