Ali is an American-born New Zealand professional soccer player. She currently plays for FC Rosengård in Sweden on loan from Orlando Pride of the NWSL and is the captain of the New Zealand women's national soccer team.
Ali has played over 10 years of professional club soccer around the world. She spent the majority of her club career with FC Rosengård and has also played for Chelsea and Bayern Munich. Her international experience spans over 13 years as a member of the New Zealand youth and national teams.
Ali is an advocate for equal rights and pursues several business interests off the field including fashion, media and nutrition.
We cover topics ranging from what makes a great culture, winning championships, growth of the women’s game, and much more, including:
Why New Zealand will win its first World Cup game in 2023.
Why relationships matter.
That fighting for what women soccer players deserve and women athletes deserve is a global effort.
Why you need a great coach.
Why ‘Beast Mode’ matters.
This conversation was edited into written form to make it easier to read.
Enjoy!
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Richard
What was your first memory of soccer?
Ali
I remember playing when I was four or five years old at the YMCA at Pally High in the Pacific Palisades, California. At the time, it wasn’t really about soccer, it was about having fun, having friends even though I was the only girl. I loved it.
Richard
When did you realize that you had potential, that you could play professionally? Was that always the dream?
Ali
My parents are really athletic and I always considered myself a good athlete, but it probably wasn’t till my first year in high school and made the varsity team at Harvard Westlake, one of the top schools in Southern California for sports, that I realized that not only I had potential but that there was opportunity. I knew about the US Women’s team but growing up you never saw women’s soccer other than the World Cup on television or written about and the women’s professional league in the US had recently folded. I didn’t know about scholarships to college, leagues all over the world, that I could play for the New Zealand national team. But, once I got to high school I learned this could be my future and I got obsessed. I didn’t know it was my dream, but it was.
Richard
As you began to pursue your dream, what players did you model your game after or look up to?
Ali
Unfortunately, not knowing about all that opportunity that was out there for me before high school was because none of those role models were there for me in the way they are for this generation. I'm so glad that little girls now have the opportunity to have these role models and women’s soccer is more on the map, even if we have a long way to go. I really liked Mia Hamm but I was not that type of striker. I love Michelle Akers because of her story and her work ethic, but I was not that type of player either. I didn't know any purely athletic, winger, that I could relate to and model my game. And I didn't watch men’s soccer so didn’t have any role models there either. I just loved the game. I loved running. If there was a role model, it was my dad, who helped me a lot. It was every day, in the driveway, at the field or at the park.
Richard
Sounds like your dad was a big influence and one of your biggest fans, who else supported or influenced you at a young age?
Ali
It started with my goal of playing in college. My goal was to play at Stanford because I had a teammate and she was going to Stanford on a scholarship. That motivated me to be a student athlete and push myself to be good enough to get a scholarship. But, as far as influences, David Copeland-Smith of Beast Mode soccer. I was one of his first pupils, or clients. He was the junior varsity coach at Harvard Westlake my senior year. He helped me realize that I had gotten to where I was on pure athleticism and that wasn’t enough to cut it at the next level. We would train before school, if I had a free period, we would train and then after practice, we would train again. He encouraged me to go to New Zealand to play on the national team the summer before Stanford. He gave me all the confidence on the fundamental and technical side, and information on nutrition and mental training. His career has completely taken off since then and is training Alex Morgan and Mallory Pugh.
Richard
Sounds like an amazing trainer and great to hear about his and your success, maybe you both have each other to thank. As you developed into a collegiate and professional player, what disciplines, philosophies or approaches have you developed that you attribute your success to?
Ali
Till just a couple of years ago, it was all about the hard work. I had natural athletic ability but zero technical soccer ability and have just continued to refine my game and learn to push myself out of my comfort zone through hard work. Much of my career before coming to Sweden was about being fast, having stamina and being able to use both feet well. That athlete ability along with my love for the game and positivity took me a long way. But as far as disciplines and philosophies, building confidence and community have been a big part of my success.
Richard
Where did the confidence come from?
Ali
I think my love for the game, being a very positive and energetic person, and really wanting to contribute to a great team environment put me in a good position on any team to be a leader. But, my confidence really grew through becoming a captain. I was a captain in high school and then a captain at Stanford, that reinforced the confidence I had in being a leader and everything that’s required of a leader. Everything from managing a team to bringing people together, taking care of younger players and just being a good teammate. All of this instilled confidence in me and while I may have lacked some technical ability I knew I could be on winning teams on and off the field.
Richard
What about community?
Ali
Impacting the environment around you, the community around you, is so important to me. It starts on the field with your team but for me, I see soccer as a huge platform. If you put in the hard work, have confidence and care about the people around you, you can create amazing communities. I learned early on you can only go so far by yourself and I really paid attention to the way I communicated with other people and the way I pushed other people because the community you build whether on the field or out in the world is so important to accomplishing your goals. I think that’s what I’ll be remembered for. At Stanford, I played with Kelley O'Hara, Christen Press, superstars and I was never going to be that player, but I was going to be a part of and help build the right team.
Richard
As your career progressed, what did you learn about yourself, what were some of the biggest challenges you faced?
Ali
As my career progressed, I developed into a different player. In Sweden, I developed new technical skills and improved my game and was one of the top players on the team. Then, when I went to Chelsea, I had an injury and never broke into the starting lineup. I'd never been tested like that before, in terms of the doubt and the mental challenges that come along with an injury. I’d been reliant and worked hard at confidence and leading my whole career but my mental strength had never fully been tested. I was able to draw from my experiences as a captain and listen to what my teammates we’re going through, whether it be they thought it was unfair they weren’t a starter, not understanding or having a supportive coach or injuries themselves. I now had to find that strength in myself to overcome an injury and a coach of my own not believing in me. At Chelsea and Bayern Munich, I developed a stronger appreciation and philosophy on the mental side. My skills didn’t change and what I brought to a team didn’t change. During those years I learned a lot more about how to overcome challenges, focusing on the things you can control.
Richard
You’ve played on a number of teams, what have you learned about the qualities of a great team?
Ali
A lot of it comes down to the coach and culture, and I have experienced a variety of coaches, with different personalities, abilities, tactics, and managerial skills. Throughout my career it’s been night and day between some of my coaches. For a successful team, the coaches that get the best out of their players, coaches that keep players around and the coaches that create the best culture create the best teams. Culture is so important. For me, from all the teams I’ve played for culture was most important on the New Zealand national team. New Zealand sport is defined by the All Blacks. And the All Blacks are the epitome of team culture and success. While I had more success on my club teams, the emphasis that New Zealanders place on culture is unmatched.
In terms of coaches, Paul Ratcliffe, while I was at Stanford, has been one of the most influential. He's still there and one of the most successful coaches ever in the women's game. His ability to be honest with players, push them but still have a fun environment and give players the tools they need to become better separated Paul.
In order for players to feel good, we need to have goals, we need to feel that we're developing and have a role, even if that role isn't what they wanted it to be or think it should be. And regardless of your position always being pushed to be better. He also reinforced accountability, whether it was as a starter for a game or in one on one drills. He also acknowledged what we worked on. I was expected to have a good game and we’d talk about it if I didn’t, but more importantly if we’d been practicing a way to serve left footed crosses for weeks and pulled one off in the game, that’s what he would highlight. And it made me a better player. He instilled that work ethic and focus on every element of the game. I remember when I arrived at Bayern Munich, and although a very different environment, my coach would point out ways to receive the ball just slightly differently in order to create more opportunities on the field, and because of what was instilled in me early on, I knew that I had to practice the small things even at the stage in my career.
Another coach, Tom Sermanni, is a godfather of women's football, and we're lucky enough to have him at New Zealand. Tom came into New Zealand after a really dark time with our previous coach and he changed everything. He focused on making sure the team felt good. It’s also a different approach that as a player and a coach you have to take with a national team. You're away for months on end together more often with them then your family. He made sure everyone felt pride playing for their country and that you're a part of something important. He focused on all the tactical elements and pushed us to be better players, but the culture he created is what made us better. It allowed us to be proud even though we were sacrificing so much. You’re traveling all the time, you’re getting paid very little and our national team lost a fair amount. But to have a coach that built a culture around pride, honor, responsibility and fun made us better people and players. And it reminded us of the responsibility that you need to act a certain way to be worthy of representing an entire nation.
He benefited from years of experience across the world, but he was able to capture everything needed to create a culture at the highest level under the highest of pressure to perform.
Richard
Comparing your club experience to national team experience, what did it feel like to put on a national team jersey for the first time?
Ali
It's completely different. Playing professionally is so amazing and I'm so glad that the game has come so far now that there's so many opportunities for women to play professionally, all over the world, at a high level, and being able to do what I love and make a living. It’s allowed me and so many other women to not only play but build a platform to inspire people and playing for my club and putting on the club jersey is an amazing opportunity and reminder of how far we come and how fortunate I am. For me that doesn't get old, but it is more of a routine, more of job at the end of the day. I love it, but you're playing every weekend, sometimes twice a week in different competitions, and it’s a business and you can change clubs. I love playing for Rosengård, I loved playing for Chelsea, and other clubs. You feel the community and fans and you are playing for them but to play for your country and represent a nation, that’s permanent.
It's something special to be an Olympian and experience a World Cup. The international game is special. I feel a responsibility to the team, the nation and the game when I play for New Zealand. For women’s soccer, the international game is the pinnacle, for me it is important too, but club viewership and leagues for men has the viewership and the following. Women’s clubs are getting there and increasingly in England, but for women, international soccer is our opportunity to change our own and so many others lives. That is the opportunity for young girls to watch us play. For me in New Zealand, it’s an amazing honor because we don’t have a domestic league so this is the opportunity to show young girls they can have a future in soccer. Captaining the New Zealand team is the biggest honor of my career.
Richard
Speaking of the balance between club and national team, you grew up in Southern California, what was your first move internationally?
Ali
After playing in New York, for the Western New York Flash in 2011, the league folded, the WPS folded. It was a horrible time. The past year with COVID has been horrible on different levels but for women’s soccer in the US, it was a horrible time in 2011 and early 2012. Hundreds of women went jobless overnight and we didn’t know where our careers were headed. I had played with Caroline Seger, who's the captain of the Swedish national team and she went back to Sweden to go home and domestically there again. I was looking for a team and my agent was not familiar with the European market. The window was closed for most European leagues but Sweden still had the window open, but no one was looking to sign anyone. I went to Germany to train with a team. Unfortunately around the same time, the left back for FC Rosengård in Sweden where Caroline played, was injured. Caroline mentioned my name to the club and instead of flying home with the one bag I brought with me with no winter clothes, I moved to Sweden. I signed for three months, and at the time just wanted somewhere to play till the 2012 Olympics, and then, six and a half years later, I was still there. It was crazy and I loved it. In 2020 I decided to go back to the US to play for the Orlando Pride and due to the coronavirus pandemic never was able to play and now I’m back at FC Rosengård on loan again in 2020. We'll see what happens from here, I’m excited about the opportunity in Orlando and thankful for the opportunity and to be at home in Sweden.
Richard
Shifting gears a bit, let’s talk about some of your business interests and platform and how you’re thinking about the future?
Ali
It’s closely connected with my decision to go to Orlando. I think Marc Skinner has the right vision to build a winning culture and I hope I can share my experience, continue to develop my game and bring my leadership to the team. I think we can do great things in Orlando and I’m also excited to be in the US and a part of an organization like the Orlando Pride leading up to the 2023 World Cup that is hosted by Australia and New Zealand. I want to make sure New Zealand wins its first ever World Cup game and it will likely be my last World Cup. I have personal ambitions to continue to grow as a player but also build a platform with the exposure of being at an organization like the Orlando Pride leading up to the 2023 World Cup. There are so many players I can learn from on the Orlando Pride roster and being around US national team players. I look forward to learning from and contributing to what they demand from their teammates, what they demand of the club, what they demand of fans and the community and the drive to bring awareness to what women soccer players deserve, what women athletes deserve. In terms of resources and initiatives, I want to be around and be a part of what they're fighting for and it inspires me to think about what and how we can fight for in New Zealand. For example, what are things that we should include in the collective bargaining agreement, we’ve been working with FIFA and other organizations in terms of maternity leave and maternity protection. And these are going to be the things that we're working on in New Zealand with our Federation as well. So, I think there's so much in terms of my game to develop and produce on the field, but also the environment, which will push me and connect to other areas I'm working with.
I’m working right now to make sure that certain demands are met for women for the 2023 World Cup. I want to make sure we get what we deserve. It is important to me to leave the game in a better place than it was when I found it. I think Orlando will be a good place to advocate for it and with an audience that's hungry for it. People want soccer in the US to be like it is in Europe. In the US I think the women's game will grow and I think that will give me a new boost of energy in terms of fighting on the field and on the global stage and in New Zealand for initiatives I care about off the field. I also think, being an American-born New Zealander and having the connections with Stanford and the network I’ve built over the years will help me reach as many people as possible. I think about this from a financial standpoint with sponsorships but also aligning with brands, people and platforms to continue to fight for equal rights. We fought for equal pay and New Zealand Football signed an equal pay deal with its female players in 2018. I recently did a collaboration with a clothing company, Malmö, to support LGBTQ rights. I consider myself an ally, I have a platform, and it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is, and be active in the community. And it's even better to have a bigger platform to inspire even more people to do the same. There is so much that is important to me and I hope that it helps all the young girls out there to not only dream of but achieve their dreams of playing soccer or achieving anything they want, whether it's president, whether it's an astronaut, whether it's a professional athlete. And for me, as a woman, I want to see other women using their platforms, to push positive messages around equal rights, body image, wellness. So for me, I’m pushing positive messages through my platforms and through my voice and I think the US is the best market for that. I have a lot to build but I think I’m setting myself up well to achieve what I hope to achieve in the next 5 years.
[Note: you can see Ali’s collaboration with Malmö here]
Richard
The connectedness of how everything can fit together is great. As we wrap up the conversation what new venture or opportunities are you exploring or that the readers should know about?
Ali
I’m still building. I have a podcast and am exploring additional media hosting opportunities. I’m building a following around nutrition, health and lifestyle on Instagram and I’m writing a cookbook with a teammate. I’ll continue to look for ways to build partnerships and my platform.
[Note: you can follow Ali’s Instagram account about nutrition, health and lifestyle @love2eat2love or her personal account @rileythree; you can listen to Ali’s podcast "Girls with Balls" here]
Richard
Thank you for sharing your story, I look forward to staying in touch and seeing New Zealand win its first ever World Cup game in 2023.
Ali.
Thank you, Richard.
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