The UK’s first female Muslim referee has set her sights on officiating in the Premier League.

Jawahir Roble, 26, moved with her parents to Britain at the age of 10 to escape the civil war raging in Somalia.

Leaving her home country, and all her friends, without a chance to say goodbye was understandably tough for Roble, who is known as JJ by her friends.

But for a football-mad girl, living in Wembley was the ideal place to settle and she found that the game helped her integrate and communicate with her classmates at a time when she spoke no English at all.

“I am very fortunate,” she said.

“I am a black woman, I am visibly a Muslim, I don’t think I can recall any incidents. Once, a parent came up to me and said ‘ref, someone said something discriminatory to you, you should chase it up’. But apart from that one incident, I’ve been very lucky so far.”

Roble, who was speaking as part of UEFA’s #WePlayStrong and its Strong Is…. series, talked about her own definition of strength.

“Strength is having your own weaknesses and sharing them with other people,” she said. “It’s showing people that those weaknesses are not the end of the world and they can do it, they can push themselves.

“Without any struggles, no one is going to get anywhere, it doesn’t happen like that. I want to inspire as many young girls as possible.”