Crawley Town's Zaid Al-Hussaini: From Street Football to the EFL

Zaid Al-Hussaini. Picture courtesy of Crawley Town

And now this season he has earned the chance at a shot at League Town with the Reds. Watch the video interview below

And FFDTV Online’s latest YouTube video covers the story of Al-Hussaini, who joined Crawley Town earlier this summer on a three-year deal.

Next season will be Al-Hussaini’s first taste of men’s professional football. Al-Hussaini was raised in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, and grew up playing in parks and cages with his friends, and has now earned his first professional contract at the age of 20.

He said: “Signing another deal and being back in a pro system feels good and it’s good to feel secure and like somebody believes in you. It’s hard coming out of the pro system once before but I always believed in my ability and knew I’d get back in.”

The winger views himself as a confident dribbler who is never shy to face up to defenders with the ball. “When trying to beat a man I just make sure that I always keep confident and I just have in my mind that I’m going to get past that person and usually I see when he plants his feet or he doesn’t want to go in, I’m going in and I’m going straight past him,” he said.

“The difference between playing in a park and an academy system was crazy, when you’re in that academy system and you make mistakes you truly get punished for them. The park taught me everything about my style and the confidence to take people on 1v1.

"I’d say I was one of the more skilful players at the park but at the same time some of the ability was out of this world, some of them are at the best places in football now.”

Crawley fans will also be pleased to hear that Al-Hussaini is ambitious for the season ahead.

He said: “My goals for the season are just to help the team as much as possible and on a personal level just get as many goals and assists as I can, but overall hopefully we can get to the playoffs and do something special”.

“Knowing I’ve got the pro contract I was relieved, proud and happy someone took a chance on me but I can’t get comfy now, it’s time to work”.