Saudi Arabia is also investing in women’s football: Ashleigh Plumptre left Leicester and joined Al-Ittihad. Until 2018, Saudi women were not allowed to attend matches in stadiums.
Until recently, women were not allowed to watch football games from the stands; Now they have become protagonists in the field. In parallel with the development of the men’s league, in which more than 800 million have already been invested, Saudi Arabia is also starting bet on women’s football. Currently, the championship has eight teams, and the second edition of the competition will be held in 2023/24.
Women will be able to watch a football match in the stadium in Saudi Arabia for the first time
Nigerian international Ashleigh Plumptre has moved from Leicester to Al-Ittihad, who finished fourth last season. After Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Benzema and other names The most expensive of world football heading to Saudi Arabia, the same phenomenon may be starting to occur in women.
“Everything I’ve done throughout my career so far has represented something bigger than myself,” Plumptre said in the intro video. “I come here with no expectations. I come to be myself. I hope I can learn and get a lot out of the environment as a soccer player, but most importantly, as a human being. “I’m already feeling it.” In Al-Ittihad, most players play football with their legs covered and, in the case of some, with hijab.
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Our #22 ????#WelcomeTo1ttihad pic.twitter.com/tq45JZpGg9—Dames Al-Ittihad | سيدات الاتحاد (@ittiladiesclub) September 13, 2023
The Saudi state’s investment in sport has been cross. In 2019, the country created the Women’s Football Development Department. As the Observer writes, the Middle Eastern country standardized club structures and reinforced the presence of clubs in the lower categories of men’s football. Furthermore, when Ronaldo was introduced as an Al Nassr player, Paulo Nunes, at that time assistant coach of the Al Hilal main team, stated that “women’s football is grow exponentially in the country”.
What will Cristiano Ronaldo find in the Saudi championship? “It is impossible to say that the conditions are the same as in Europe”
Although Saudi Arabia is looking to organize a men’s World Cup in the short/medium term (it wanted to compete in 2030 with Greece and Egypt but ended up withdrawing the proposal when it understood that it would not have many chances of winning at this point). ), the country is also in the race to receive the Women’s Asian Cup in 2026. At the national team level, history is also recent: the Saudi Arabian women’s team played its first official match in February 2022 against the Seychelles Islands, winning 2-0.
Source: Observadora
