Sport: Soccer
Born: December 7, 1998
Town: Voorhees, New Jersey
Amirah Iman Ali was born December 7, 1998 in Voorhees Township to Kimberly and Jameel Ali and grew up in nearby Winslow Township, NJ. She became a travel-team teammate of Tziarra King, whose father served as coach. Amirah soon began training with the Somerset PDA team in the Elite Clubs National League, along with King and Gabby Provenzano. All three would play together again on the Rutgers women’s soccer team. At Eastern Regional High, Amirah was recognized as Player of the Year the National Soccer Coaches of America and the United Soccer Coaches. In four varsity seasons, she scored 99 goals.
Amirah continued her goal-scoring at Rutgers, where she specialized in netting game-winners. Her clutch play earned her first-team All-Big Ten nods as a sophomore and junior, as well as being a first-team All-American. In 2021, Amirah helped Rutgers win its first Big Ten women’s soccer title. She was on the Hermann Trophy list each year from 2019 to 2021.
In 2021, the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League drafted Amirah, but she opted to stay in New Brunswick for her extended senior season (because of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season). Amirah had another sensational year and was first-team All-Big Ten a third time, marking the first time in school history a player had accomplished this. She also became the program’s first four-time All-American.
Amirah led Rutgers to an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time since 2015 and the Scarlet Knights made it to the Final Four. She finished her collegiate career with 17 game-winners among a total of 44 goals.
In 2022, Amirah’s NWSL rights were acquired by the San Diego Wave, a team led by Alex Morgan. She scored her first professional goal in April against Angel City FC during the NWSL Challenge Cup. Amirah scored her second NWSL goal in 2023, as the Wave established themselves as one of the most competitive teams in the league.