Women's football in Saudi Arabia

Football
Country Saudi Arabia
Governing body Saudi Arabian Football Federation
National team Women's national team

Women's football in Saudi Arabia is mostly played indoors by the affluent.[1][2] This is mainly due to the heavy legal restrictions by the government.[3]

In 2012 the government allowed women to attend games in segregated parts of the stadium.[4]

Background and development

The national federation was created in 1956 and became a FIFA affiliate in 1956.[5][6] However women's football is not included in the country's FIFA coordinated Goals! project.[6] By 2011, inside the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, there has been an effort to create women's football programs at universities. Input had been sought on how to do this from other national federations including ones from the United States, Germany, Brazil and the United Kingdom.[7] On the men's side of the game, the national federation has funded efforts to improve the quality of the Saudi Arabia men's national football team.[8]

Founded in 2006, King's United women football club was the first women's football club in the country.[9] In 2009, they trained in Jeddah.[10] The team was initially sponsored by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal but facing scrutiny in the face of intense media coverage, he withdrew his support in 2009.[11] In 2012, the team trained three times a week outside the sight of men, with players wearing traditional football kit of short sleeved shirts and shorts. The team is coached by Reema Abdullah who also is the team's striker. It has 35 players who range in age from 13 to 35.[9] Other women's teams have been created in the country in cities like Riyadh and Dammam and a tournament was held in 2008, with seven teams competing and the event being won by King's United.[9][11] The first match between two female teams in the country occurred in January 2008 when the Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University team beat Al-Yamamah College in a match played at Dammam's 35,000-spectator capacity Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium in a shootout victory before an all-women audience. The player of the match was Al-Yamamah College's goalkeeper.[12] In March 2009, a women's charity football match was held between a team called "University" and a team called "Barcelona" that was attended by 400 female fans and no men. The game was won 2–1 by University and earned SR81,000 ($21,598) to go towards people with disabilities in the eastern part of the kingdom.[13]

As of 2006, no data were available for the number of women's football players in the country.[5] In 2006, there was international uproar when Saudi authorities sought to prevent women from attending a game between the Saudi Arabia national football team and the Sweden national football team.[14] In 2008, the situation for women's football in the Middle East was said by author Gary Brecher to be up there in popularity of freedom and democracy in the region.[15] An all-women's school sporting competition was held at Effat University in 2010. The tournament was investigated by Saudi authorities because, according to Ahmed al-Zahrani, director of the Girls Education Department in Jeddah, the country does not have "any regulations that say that it's okay for girl schools to hold sports classes or training".[10] In 2011, women's football was seen as a way to combat a growing problem of obesity in the country.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Secret Life of a Saudi Women's Soccer Team". Time. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  2. ↑ "Women's soccer making headway in Saudi Arabia". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "Women's soccer making headway in Saudi Arabia". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "Women to be allowed on to adapted football terraces in Saudi Arabia". The Independent. London. 29 January 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Women's Football Today" (PDF). FIFA. 2006: 167. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Goal! Football: Saudi Arabia" (PDF). FIFA. 21 January 2010. p. 1. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  7. ↑ Wagner, Rob L. (8 November 2011). "Women's soccer making headway in Saudi Arabia". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Gabriel Kuhn (24 February 2011). Soccer Vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics. PM Press. pp. 28–. ISBN 978-1-60486-053-5. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  9. 1 2 3 "Saudi female athletes challenge Muslim norms — Olympics —". ESPN. 17 February 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  10. 1 2 Jamjoom, Mohammed (21 December 2010). "Saudi Arabia investigating female sports competition, paper reports". CNN. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  11. 1 2 Burleigh, Nina (1 March 2012). "Nina Burleigh on Why You Won't See Saudi Women At The Olympics". Time Ideas. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  12. ↑ "First female soccer match played in Saudi Arabia". RIA Novosti. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  13. ↑ Hartley, Joanna (21 March 2009). "Saudi women take part in charity football game". Arabian Business. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  14. ↑ "Saudi Arabia to let women watch soccer friendly clash". Gulf Daily News. 18 January 2006. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  15. ↑ Gary Brecher (2008). War Nerd. Soft Skull Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-59376-302-2. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  16. ↑ "Saudi Arabia's Secret Women Sports Teams | PRI's The World". Theworld.org. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
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