world mirror
Until recently, women were banned from stadiums in Saudi Arabia. Women’s football is now being promoted, there is a league and the Women’s World Cup is to be brought to the country. But that doesn’t mean there is equality.
A bright red football, a green field and a woman with black hair that she wears loose. She juggles the ball in a public park in Saudi Arabia. It is a scene that was unimaginable for years in the ultra-conservative country and that is still not commonplace today.
The woman who dares to juggle the ball in Dammam Beach Park is called Saja Kamal. She quickly has an audience: three Saudi men stroll past with puzzled expressions. They seem to have never seen anything like this before. Kamal plays for a few minutes, then the 34-year-old packs her things. She doesn’t feel completely comfortable with all the stares: “I’m a little nervous, it’s the first time I’m playing on a public pitch. But it’s also a nice feeling.”
Women now allowed in stadiums
Kamal has loved football since childhood, she says. As a young girl, she played in the yard with her brothers and cousins and kept her fingers crossed for the country’s most successful club, Al-Hilal, from an early age. Saudi women were banned from visiting stadiums for a long time, but Kamal still made it into the stands as a girl – dressed as a boy in the blue Al-Hilal outfit.
Now she can simply buy a ticket and go to the stadium as a woman. “Sometimes I can’t believe what’s happening in my country,” she says. “Then I have to pinch myself and say to myself: This is really happening. Women are on TV and playing football. Everything is official.”
A little more rights for women
Saudi Arabia is experiencing football hype – for women and men. There are posters all over the country of male superstars Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Neymar, who moved to the Gulf last year for astronomical salaries. They are intended to help build the men’s league into a top league in the world.
And women are also experiencing an upswing in football. There has been a national women’s team for two years, a nationwide women’s league, games are broadcast live, and women hold high positions in the Saudi Football Association.
Lamia Bahaian, the association’s vice president, watches the Jeddah derby, Al-Ahly against Al-Ittihad, from the sidelines. She speaks of a dream that has come true: “The girls on the pitch are pioneers, they have come such a long way. We are very proud of them.” Bahaian says she feels the trust of the state leadership.
Behind Bahaian hangs a large picture of the Saudi crown prince. Mohammed Bin Salman is omnipresent in Saudi Arabia and is the most important decision-maker. As a ruler, he is willing to reform and brutal at the same time. Since he has been in charge of the country, women have had a little more leeway. They have been allowed to drive since 2018 and the requirement to wear a headscarf has been abolished.
From equal rights far away
But the country is far from equal rights. A male guardian still often decides what a Saudi woman can and cannot do. Reforms remain contradictory, women’s rights activists are locked away. There are reports of torture.
Anyone who dares to criticize is living dangerously. Critical voices can almost only be heard abroad. Lina Al-Hathloul has been living in exile for years. Only there can she express herself freely, she says. The Saudi women’s rights activist has mixed feelings about the football hype in her country.
She says she is happy for her football-loving compatriots. But footballers who do not address grievances allow themselves to be used as propaganda tools by the Saudi regime: “If they stay quiet, they accept to represent the Saudi government. And they all look the other way when it comes to the oppression in Saudi Arabia. Nobody wants to know what’s really happening.”
FIFA and Saudi Arabia – partners for years
The most powerful in world football have long been regularly visiting Saudi Arabia. FIFA President Gianni Infantino also watched a women’s game in Jeddah in December. The story of the Saudi women footballers fits well into FIFA’s narrative. Football as a development aid for progress and freedom.
Infantino and Bin Salman, FIFA and Saudi Arabia, two have found each other – partners for at least the next decade. The Saudi oil company Aramco is to become a major sponsor of FIFA, and the awarding of the 2034 Men’s World Cup to Saudi Arabia is considered certain. And, as Vice Association President Bahaian revealed on the sidelines of the women’s game in Jeddah: Saudi Arabia also seems to be considering a bid to host the Women’s World Cup in 2035.
This would have been unimaginable just a few years ago, says Saja Kamal in the beach park in Dammam. But it’s too late, she’s now too old to make the national team, she jokes. She wants to try kicking something on the grass with her bright red soccer ball more often in the future.