Back in the days when the coaching trio Walter Skocik/ Alfred Riedl/Dietmar Constantini When she was doing pioneering work for champion Ittihad Dschedda, women were not allowed to drive a car or even go to the supermarket without a male companion. And just ten years ago, the current vice-president of the association could only play football in secret in backyards.
Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, where 63 percent of the 37 million inhabitants are under 30, more and more young women are getting involved. Even in meeting rooms.
The second season of the first Saudi Arabian women’s league begins at the end of August. The club Al-Qadsiah is preparing for this with Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir Iceland’s best female footballer as reinforcement.
While obscene transfer sums that can be used to acquire top stars like Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo to the desert, sparked outrage in the (not always morally impeccable) football world of Europe, Arab efforts to promote women’s sport have so far been barely noticed and taken even less seriously. However, a local inspection in Kirchberg revealed:
Unlike in Shiite Iran, where a headscarf that slips can lead to arrest, Saudi female footballers can decide for themselves whether to cover their hair. Only four of the 26-woman squad wore hijabs. Not a single player went without tights, even in 30-degree heat. Their spirited final offensive went unrewarded. Moldova won 1-0 with a penalty goal.
The three-week Lower Austria camp ended with only the seventh international match in the young history of women’s football. Four men’s teams (including Al Ahli with ex-Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle) spent weeks in Austria preparing for the new league season, not to the financial detriment of the hotel industry.
As contradictory and abnormally high Arab club salaries for men may be compared to those for women, at national team level, unlike in Europe, equal pay is respected. Especially since Deputy Minister of Sport Adawa Al ArifiHead of Association Football Aaalia al Rasheed and her deputy Lamia Flood the three new power ladies of Saudi football.
