In September 2017, Saudi Arabia lifted the ban on women driving. In the same year, they were able to enter the cinema after a 35-year ban. The first women’s league started in 2021. In 2022, the team played its first international match. These dates summarize the ‘revolution’ that the country hosting the Super Cup is experiencing these days. There’s still a long way to go, but compared to what we’ve experienced so far, it’s like traveling back in time. The construction of women’s football in Saudi Arabia is a reality and has a significant Spanish accent.
In December, former FC Barcelona coach and former Ukraine coach Lluís Cortes took over the reins of the Saudi Arabian women’s team. Two coaches train in the first division of the local league: Ana Junyentthe only coach in his category (Al-Riyadh) and David CabildoShe is the coach of the Eastern Flames, Saudi Arabia’s first women’s football team. It was founded in 2006, at a time when an all-female team was not an option. Opportunity created Maram El ButairiSaudi businesswoman and Karina ChapaAmerican partner.
Work from scratch, but with maximum motivation
HE Eastern Flamesinstitutionally Shulat Alsharqia FCIt is located in Dammam, the fourth most populous city in the country, and to its east. “The football stadium is still in its infancy. There is no prior training. They start from the bottom, with very basic things. I was already working in Colombia, but there were also girls playing with boys there,” David Cabildo, who has experience at Juventus, Arsenal, Colombian Deportivo Pereira or Lebanon, tells Prensa Ibérica.
The Spanish coach explains that there is a significant difference between the players. There are also those who have professional contracts, but they do not have extensive experience. There can be 7 foreign players in the clubs, 4 of them at the same time. Despite the basic nature of the development, the economic commitment (the Cabildo is aware that it is better remunerated than other leagues) and Players’ predisposition serves as motivation.
“Patience is required. But in women’s football, the players are already eager to learn. When you talk to them, they show maximum attention. They are very proactive. They ask you about aspects to work on or improve. This allows them to develop rapidly. “They bring a lot of passion, which is something I don’t often encounter in men’s football,” he says before inviting Cabildo, who comes to Saudi Arabia with the common sense of a country that has opened up to the world more than ever in recent years.
All matches are broadcast on television
“I was very scared. Some people told me to be careful. I was also in Lebanon. In general, it is very similar. The physical contact is different. There is no image of the coach putting his arm over the player. Otherwise the situation is the same. There are jokes and laughter“, the Spanish coach comments on the problems experienced with the East Flames team. Another big difference is in the clothes.
“This has a lot to do with families. If they come from a more conservative background, they cover up more. They play in socks so as not to show their legs. Foreign football players don’t need to do this,” explains the other women they work with, such as the coach of the Saudi women’s team, physiotherapists, psychologists or administrative staff. “Much less radical than what’s being sold.”He defends the cabildo.
The coach assures us that there are many more fans than one might think, so he always looks at the present from the perspective of the recent past. In fact, it provides an important example to understand women’s football in Saudi Arabia. “All matches are broadcast on television. The content is greatly enriched thanks to social networks.”explains Cabildo.
A grassroots football team to absorb the losses of the Eastern Flames
Operator Saudi Telecom Company, which took over 10% of the capital of the Spanish company Telefónica in September 2023, is responsible for broadcasting the Saudi Women’s Premier League matches. In other leagues with more experience, such as League F, it has taken time for David Cabildo’s Eastern Flames FC to fully cover a competition where the aim is permanence. Only one team was relegated in this eight-team categorybut his leading role and good work are hurting this club, which is the breadbasket of the rest of the tournament.
“The main goal is not to go down and prepare a base force for the next season. Immediately after Cabildo entered the project, many starting players left us and we faced teams much more important than ours,” he explains. The leader of the Women’s Premier League is Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr, and behind it is Neymar Jr’s Al-Hilal. But Eastern Flames It is the major strategic project of Saudi women’s football.
The Cabildo team has an under-17 team, which allows it to cover the usual losses due to interests of the biggest clubs. This oxygen tank has become the lungs of the lower categories of the Saudi national team. Saudi Arabian Football Federation spearheads recruitment of German Monika StaabHaving already participated in the creation of the Qatar women’s team.
There will be three categories in women’s football in Saudi Arabia
It was created in the heat of the 2022 World Cup, but it fizzled out. There are no activities today. Saudi Arabia, which will organize the 2034 event, has a different approach. Ahead of the minimum requirements, the company is confident that women’s football will also be a branch of the tree in the Saudi Vision 2030 plan announced across Riyadh. In fact, a third category will soon become a reality in the country’s ‘futfem’.
“When they want something, they do it very quickly. They place a block and in a short time they own the building. The process reminds me of what I experienced in Dubai. They opened up to very conservative issues. They will be able to change the situation in a few years Women’s Football“The ambitions of the Cabildo, one of the architects who laid the first stone of a discipline that until recently was impossible to imagine in a state that progressed through the cannon.