UAE rider Safia Al Sayegh retires from cycling for religious reasons, “for the sake of obedience to Allah and the rules of my religion”
End of the childhood dream. The UAE cyclist Safia Al Sayegh has decided to end his professional career after seven years of dedication to the sport. Safia Al Sayegh He began competing in 2019, taking an exponential leap in his professional career in 2022, when he signed for the UAE Team ADQ highest level, category WorldTour.
He played at the highest level until 2025, until this year he decided to take a step back in his career as a cyclist and go on to defend the shield of the UAE development teamwith whom this year he has competed for a total of eleven days and with whom he will stop being a professional cyclist on December 31st.
A decision, to leave cycling, after how much it has cost her, and to become a reference for the women of her country, which she herself has argued through social networks, in a statement in which she says that she was suffering an identity crisis and that she got off the bike for religious reasons, to the point that she herself recognizes that “she could not continue like this.”
The last two years have been tough mentally. I found myself in an identity crisis. Being a Muslim woman who fully believes in covering up and dressing modestly, and a girl who simply loved running, cycling, and who loved sports
In this sense, Al Sayegh acknowledges that “the last two years have been tough mentally, not because this sport is tough, but because I found myself in an identity crisis. Being a Muslim woman who fully believes in covering up and dressing modestly, and a girl who simply loved running, cycling, and who loved sports. This year I finally made the decision in the interest of obedience to Allah and the rules of my religion on female dress. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘Truly, You will never leave anything for the sake of Allah Almighty, but Allah will replace it with something better for you, and I believe that whoever leaves something for the sake of Allah will replace it with something better.”
She is grateful for the support her team has offered her over the years and says she would like to be remembered “and I hope it can be for good manners, smiles, trying to do my best to spread joy to the people around me, and a Muslim woman who tried her best to show, wherever she went, how beautiful Islam is and that it is a religion of peace, balance, and obedience to our creator, Allah.”
I hope to be remembered as a Muslim woman who tried her best to show, wherever she went, how beautiful Islam is and that it is a religion of peace, balance, and obedience to our creator, Allah.
A text that ends with these words: “Praise Allah for the success of the Lord of the worlds so that I leave something for his good. I still love this sport that I grew up playing and competing in, and that taught me patience, endurance and courage, who Safia is and that took me to the most beautiful places in the world.”
11 victories in his career
Throughout his years as a professional, Safia Al Sayegh He has achieved a total of eleven victories, all of them in his country, in the different national championships he has competed in, whether on the road or time trial. He also competed in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (first female cyclist from the United Arab Emirates to qualify and compete in the Olympic Games) and won silver in the road event of the Asian Road Cycling Championships in 2025.
