Saudi women make history with home international debut and 3-3 draw

September 25 - Saudi Arabia's women's team made their international debut on home soil on Saturday night with a 3-3 draw against Bhutan at the Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium in Abha. The two teams will play another friendly match on September 28.

It was only the third international match for the Saudi women's team who played their first international matches against Seychelles and the Maldives at the National Stadium in Malé, the capital of the Maldives, in February, winning both games 2 -0.

Home matches mark another step forward for Saudi women who were only allowed to enter stadiums to watch football in 2018.

As part of Vision 2030, the country is committed to increasing opportunities for women in sport by integrating its football into the world of football. Saudi Arabia is a bid to host the Men's Asian Cup in 2027 and could be part of a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

This is a very visible turnaround from the dark days of Qatar's economic blockade, the wider issues of human rights abuses and, in a hugely damaging football context, the theft of large-scale copyrighted live streams from the world's highest tier. football properties in the area by beoutQ.

The Saudi Football Federation (SAFF) reports that women's participation in sports in the Kingdom has increased by 150% in the past four years, and 195,000 girls aged 5-15 now play a sport every week .

The presentation of their international home team is part of SAFF's determination to increase interest and participation at all levels of women's football, investing in grassroots football, player development, training, facilities, competitions and governance. Through several new regional training centres, SAFF is looking to recruit 1,000 girls into competitive football across the Kingdom.

SAFF created its first official regional women's football league in 2021 with 16 teams, and will launch a new 8-team Premier League next month. The regional competition has now been renamed Women's Premier Division League and will see 17 teams compete across three cities, taking the total number to a record 25 clubs across the two divisions.

There are currently nearly 450 registered players, 49 qualified referees and more than 800 D, C and B licensed coaches in Arabia.

Coached by Germany's Monika Staab since August last year, goalscorers who made Saudi history were Al-Bandari Mubarak - who scored the team's first-ever goal against Seychelles -, Bayan Sadaqah and Noura Al-Ibrahim.