BEVERLY HILLS, March 08, (THEWILL) – On the occasion of the International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration of 2021, it is an attestation of FIFA’s commitment to improve equality in the game that women’s football is constantly evolving, and more and more girls and women, from all corners of the globe, are discovering the joys of playing football.
Of no exception to this evolution is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As the Kingdom opens up to encourage tourism and industry, there are changes occurring throughout, especially in the recent past. For one, women’s football is now played in the country and the prospects of a bright future for women’s football in Saudi Arabia are very positive.
This was concretised with the creation of a Department of Women’s Football Development in October 2019, which heralded a new era for the women’s game in the predominantly Muslim country.
The objective of the Department is to promote and support the culture of women’s football, while raising awareness of the importance of sport. Following from that goal, the country’s inaugural women’s championship, the Women’s Community Football League, was launched in November 2020 after a coronavirus-related postponement.
There were 24 teams from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, all featuring players aged 17 and above, that battled it out for the maiden title. In the end, Challenge Riyadh claimed the maiden edition.
These advances for women’s football in the Kingdom have been supported by FIFA from the onset. During his recent visit to the kingdom, FIFA President Gianni Infantino stressed the importance of developing women’s football in Saudi Arabia in line with FIFA’s global strategy for women’s football globally.
To build on the successes so far recorded, FIFA and the football authorities in Saudi Arabia are working to prioritise the development of coaches, referees and players coupled with the task of creating new women’s teams that will compete for glory in tournaments to be organised and improved in the Kingdom. From these teams, a crop of women will be selected to form a national team, just as football pitches will be adapted to the needs of women football.
This all-encompassing project is designed to help increase the number of women and of girls who desire to pick up the game as a lifetime opportunity.
As stepping stones to this level of development, there are prerequisite keys that are foundational for the attainment of the female football goals of the Saudis. First, the provision of qualified male and female coaches is an integral part of the developmental and promotional strategy. Female Saudi coaches will effectively enhance the level of performance of the female players.
Added to that, there is the related need of bolstering the training given to local female referees to provide them with the specialist knowledge required to referee official and unofficial competitions with a high degree of competence.
For this to happen, a team of Saudi female referees is to be established with the long-term goal of officiating at international tournaments. To that end, 12 of Asia’s top female referees (among others) were flown to Saudi Arabia to take charge of women’s league matches and train 16 Saudi junior women referees.
Also important in this process is the imperative to create a mechanism to promote women players of all ages. This will assist in ensuring that there are enough talented players to represent the national teams and clubs at different levels of female football in the Kingdom and across the globe.
So far, although these are early days, the Department has been able to list a few achievements for the growth of female football in the Kingdom that include:
Beyond Saudi Arabia, there is still a long way to go across the world to make the female game match up with the male’s and FIFA, through its Chief Women’s Football Officer, the New Zealander Sarai Bareman holds strongly to her conviction that “Women will play a significant role in shaping and developing the future of football.”
Speaking on the commemoration of the IWD 2021, she said: “Whilst challenges do remain as football emerges from the pandemic, I firmly believe there is a real opportunity for women’s football to become truly global over the next few years. I think the potential on and off the pitch is limitless.”
“For me, every day is International Women’s Day. We shouldn’t wait for this day to celebrate our achievements, uplift each other and to strive for equality. I’m so lucky to be leading women’s football where these themes are at the core of our work. I would encourage all women to find reasons to celebrate success every day!”
About the Author
