Freelance Magi Haroun has become the first woman photographer to get Premier League accreditation.

Magi, based in Manchester, has been photographing top flight sports events for newspapers and agencies for 25 years.

She said: “It’s absolutely fantastic news, you sometimes see women working the big football matches for agencies or on behalf of newspapers but I am the first to be granted accreditation to work on my own.

“I have been taking photographs of sporting events for 25 years and have been a press photographer for 20 years and this is a real achievement.

“I studied photography at Manchester Art College and my father – who was on the board at Old Trafford – gave me my break.

“I had a camera and a degree in photography and he asked me to take some pictures at the ground, some of the things I saw you just wouldn’t believe.”

Prior to 1989 Magi ran an advertising company in Manchester with a friend and the photography was a sideline, but in 1989, she moved to London and started work for the now defunct Today newspaper as a freelance photographer doing news and sport.

While she was there she photographed hundreds of top level sports events.

After her stint down south she joined Alpha Sports International as a dedicated sports photographer and moved back to Manchester with them in 1997. She then spent two years photographing football matches on a daily basis travelling far and wide covering a patch from Birmingham up to Newcastle and taking in Leeds, Liverpool and Greater Manchester.

In 1999 she was given the Nationwide contract to cover the England team and spent 12 months following them around with unprecedented access to them before during and after games.

She also worked for Empics for two years and was the only female photographer they had at that point.

Magi said: “The climb has not always been easy, there has been some resistance along the way.

“I remember one time I was covering world class cricket in 1998 and I asked a senior photographer from a very well known agency how many female photographers they employed, he said none because ‘they just aren’t good enough’.

“I applied for the accreditation because I have really decided to go for sports pictures in a big way this year.

“There’s a lot of competition and you have to have the best and latest equipment to make sure your pictures are out as quickly as possible – but it is incredibly rewarding and I work with a great bunch of people.”

As well as her accreditation for Premier League games Magi also covers the North of England for the Sunday Express and still works for them on a freelance basis.

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