"Men’s clubs started noticing how women are playing football and became interested in having a women’s team" (L. Bahaian, SAFF)

How was the first Saudi Arabian Women's Championship which started in November 2021?

One of the most exciting things that happened in November 2021 is that we had 16 teams playing under the Federation. It was a very good number for the start of the first women’s league in the SAFF’s history.

430 players played in total. It went on for approximately two months. It was first a regional league in Riyad, Djeddah and Ammam, with a home and away format. The eight best teams from the three leagues (three teams from Riyad, three from Djeddah and two from Ammam) then participated in a national league in Djeddah. It was a play-off format, which lasted aproximately ten days. 

Are Saudis interested in this new competition?

When we started the league, we announced the teams, the format, but we didn’t have much content - photos or videos - to provide to the community. But once we started posting during the first week of the league, a lot of fans followed the various accounts. Everyone took our pictures to make headlines, to congratulate and encourage us, etc. Even FIFA Fédération Internationale de Football Association posted something. 

What conclusions can you draw from this first edition? Are there any developments already planned?

There is one thing that we would change: instead of having a two month competition, it should be four to six month league. The players need to be able to practice more. 

One of the best things was that the girls were really excited and really committed to play. They were playing two games per week, very competitive games.

We really want to take advantage of this momentum by adding more teams and creating a second division. It could be 16 teams at the top level, and 12 teams in the second tier.

Are the current teams linked to professional men's clubs? 

Not yet. The 16 teams started playing back in 2008 approximately. They were community clubs, but they’ve practiced football for 14 years. They know how to play. When we opened the registration department within the Federation, they already had players and technical staff. They came as women’s clubs. 

This is one of the advantages that we had after we finished the league. It went viral on social media in Saudi Arabia with all the pictures and videos. Then, the men’s clubs started noticing how women are playing football. Now the league is finished, they became interested in having women’s team within their club. Maybe in the next few seasons we’ll see Al Nassr or Al Hilal playing in our league.

Is it a goal for the Federation to see more and more girls playing football in Saudi Arabia?

 Of course. We have that objective and it’s very important for us to start from early age, to build the foundations for the mass participation of women and then go on to the leagues, development, and so on. We’re talking about football in schools, which is also decisive. That’s why we’ll be launching the school leagues in August 2022.

There is also community football, which has to be under the Federation. We have to build a permanent women’s football here in Saudi Arabia. We are only beginning and we are testing it and watching. We’ll see how many girls in the Kingdom play football in two years.

In every project that we have, we need to understand the current situation. For example, football in Djeddah, Riyad or Dammam is different than in Al-Ula or Tabuk. The first three are bigger regions and girls have been playing football since 2006. If you go to Tabuk, there is no community league. You have to start and develop it. It’s different. We are a big country, with 13 regions. 

Do you already have enough infrastructure to host women's football?

Infrastructure is an issue for both men’s and women’s football. The governement and the Federation are already very aware of this. Just now, we’ve started a project for identifying pitches in the cities. For example, in Riyad, we have Prince Nourah University. We want to renovate approximately four football pitches. After the renovation, we’ll go to another city, etc. We are renovating these pitches just for women’s football. That will solve the problem.

We also deliver agreements to schools and universities which already have football stadiums or pitches in order to use them for women’s football at certain times. 

How much money does the government invest in women's football?

It’s a huge sum. It’s difficult to give a precise figure. One indication: we only started the league in November, the very first one in the country, and the winner got 300,000 riyals, which means $140,000. For the first season alone, it’s a large amount of money. We can imagine that this amount will grow in the next few years. 

Lamia Bahaian

• Board Member & Head of Women’s Football Department @ Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAFF)

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Depuis février 2020

Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAFF)
Board Member & Head of Women’s Football Department

Décembre 2014 - mai 2018

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2011 - 2012

DLA Piper
Paralegal

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Fiche n° 46186, créée le 25/05/2022 à 10:30 - MàJ le 25/05/2022 à 16:03