faris abdi was born on may 9, 1999, in san diego, california and is the son of rifat abdi and soulafa al nassar. abdi was raised in dhahran, eastern province, saudi arabia. in an interview with al arabia abdi stated "i grew up in dhahran loving sports especially soccer and basketball, at first i began playing as a goalkeeper then as a midfielder". one of al nahda officials stated in an interview with rotana that abdi played basketball at the club saying "he (abdi) came in a very young age to play basketball, he showed us a very good talent and was such a smart player". abdi went back to the united states at the age of 14 in 2013 to study high school at img academy and there he continued to play soccer. in his last year at img academy as a senior in high school, during the annual end of the year banquet, abdi won the award of the mvp of his team and best attacking player at img. abdi has two brothers fayik and tarik.