Women's athletics was long met with skepticism in the UAE, as in the rest of the world, where cultural norms often form obstacles that forbid women from taking part in sports activities. However, prominent backing by governmental female figures in the country has seen a cultural shift for adapting to accepting females as sports contenders. In 2009, the UAE Football Association formed the women's football committee dedicated to creating a national team that could officially represent the country on the international stage but did not participate in any official competitions other than WAFF cup. Progress has been slow by the UAE FA in developing the game since its initiation as they have yet to establish a women's football league. None of the professional FA clubs in the UAE have an established women's team on a consistent basis due to lack of incentive by the federation. Often when women's teams are initiated, they are dissolved at the completion of the season due to lack of funding. This attributed the slow progress in creating a consistent women's football competition that mirrors the Arabian Gulf league in the country. As a result, a series of subcommittees have taken on the responsibility to improve the development of women's football within the country such as the Abu Dhabi Sports Council as well as the Fatima bint Mubarak female sports academy. In addition, many private academies and amateur leagues have taken to filling the gap for providing consistent competitions. UAE played their first international match at the 2010 West Asian Football Federation Women's Championship. After a 4–2 over Palestine there, where they went on to win the tournament. The AFC qualification competition in 2017 was hosted by Tajikistan. This was the team's first campaign to qualify for a major tournament, making history for the UAE women’s football team. Asian teams are allocated 5 qualification slots to qualify for the Fifa 2019 World Cup. The confederations then arrange the qualification logistics with the member nations. The AFC decided to merge the qualification campaign for the World Cup 2019 with the 2018 AFC competition with the top 5 teams progressing to the World cup finals. The opening match of the competition was against a resilient Philippines team, the UAE held the game at until half time but a series of mistakes lead to an eventual 4-0 defeat. The following game saw the UAE take on their fierce rivals Jordan, where they were outclassed by a masterful performance 6-0. a Draw in their next game against Bahrain 1-1 effectively ended their chances of progressing to the knockout stages as a win was required. With the pressure taken away, the UAE triumphed over Iraq 3-0 was the first ever victory in a Women’s World Cup qualifier. It was followed up by a second win, against hosts Tajikistan, two days later 1-0. The UAE didn’t end up reaching this summer’s World Cup in France of AFC knockout stages, finishing fourth in the qualification league.
The United Arab Emirates are twice championshions of the WAFF Womens Championship The event is organized by West Asian Football Federation. It is usually held every two years, but occasionally at longer intervals.
