Women, Football and Social Change in Saudi Arabia

Pioneer Players

This book traces the emergence of women’s football in Saudi Arabia from the infancy of the grassroots-driven Riyadh Women’s Football League established in 2007 to the launch of the state-sponsored, official women’s community football league in 2020.

For a long time, Saudi Arabia had a men’s national football team, but no women’s team. Until 2018, women did not have access to football stadiums, and before 2020 there was no official women’s league. On the face of it there were no women in football until top-driven policy reform suddenly turned the situation upside-down. But the story of women’s football unfolding away from these headlines is a completely different one.

The research in this work is based on fieldwork focused on the Riyadh Women’s Football League, interviews with women players and the pioneers of women’s football in Saudi Arabia, amongst others, as well as the author’s attendance at games and practices, and analysis of social and traditional media and other available documents.
In tracing the developments of women’s football in Saudi Arabia, Charlotte Lysa offers a ground-breaking social history of contemporary Saudi society and a narrative of change: change within football, change in women’s roles, and change in the structures of society.

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