In Egypt, American football is usually thought of as a sport played by heavily padded big men who tackle or overpower each other. Aya Ali, however, sees it from another perspective. That's because she plays defense for the Transforma Pink Warriors, a women's flag football team in Cairo. Ali believes a woman can do anything a man can do.

“Egyptian women are exponentially developing an interest in American football,” Ali told Al-Monitor, before a match in the first women’s football league in Egypt. “Perhaps women are even more passionate and enthusiastic about their favorite sports than men.”

At a sports club on the outskirts of Cairo, a group of about 100 women have dispensed with social stereotypes and joined the first women’s American football league in the Middle East.

The league consists of three teams — the GUC Eagles, Cairo She Wolves and Transforma Pink Warriors — and will be in action Nov. 18 through Dec. 2. Three more women’s teams — the MSA Tigers, AUC Titans and BUE Lynx — are in development and are expected to be launched in the next few months.