The Beginning

The Eastern Flames started with few members as Smith faced difficulties in finding players and coaches to join the team. Still, the team was able to host tournaments in Dhahran, playing other Saudi teams. In 2009, the Flames participated in their first Rotary Club of Manama’s Charity Tournament.

From the beginning, the players took practices very seriously, with the women — married and single — building their lives around weekly practicing sessions at the Hills Field inside Aramco’s Dhahran community.

Then, in 2010, the Eastern Flames felt the need to level up their performance, joining the Arsenal Soccer School Cup league in Bahrain with the goal to become competitive by playing against more experienced players. As it was their first league, they struggled through the whole season without winning a game. Still, they were strong believers in progress and took their time to reflect on their losses, returning stronger the following season. The Eastern Flames has undergone management restructuring. In 2014, Maram Al Butairi, a financial analyst at Aramco, became the manager, pumping new blood into the team and targeting bigger goals. She appointed Karina Chapa as co-manager.

Working Harder, Getting Better

Looking to expand the number of players and the team’s capabilities, leaders recruited more players from the company through word of mouth, The Arabian Sun, and advertisements in the community to build a richer talent pool.

The Eastern Flames, though, faced recruitment challenges regarding the public nature of participation. Because of this, the club tries to raise awareness among the local communities to support the current direction of the Kingdom, increasing women’s participation in sports.

In 2020, the team participated in its biggest tournament yet — and the first women’s football tournament — at the Gulf Cooperation Council in Al Ain, UAE. Supported by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in an effort to expose the Eastern Flames to professional players to leverage their skills, it marked a major milestone for the team by allowing them to play against other teams such as the UAE National Team, Al Ain Football Club, and the Super Soccer Team from Bahrain.^[2]

Saudi Women's Regional, National and Premier League

Eastern Flames won the Eastern Region league two consecutive times in 2020 and 2021. As the Eastern Flames emerged as winners of the regional SAFF Women's regional League, they clinched their first-ever ticket to the Women's SAFF National league as the Eastern Representative. On 15 September 2022, Eastern Flames were announced among the teams that will contest Saudi first ever women's premier league, marking history for the club. The club has since then signed contracts with several North African players and Colombian Striker Sara Toro.^[3]

Current squad

As of 17 November 2023.^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  KSA Somiah AlMuwallad 2 MF  MEX Sofía Ochoa 3 MF  KSA Asmaa Ahmed 4 FW  KSA Wejdan Al-Balkhi 5 MF  KSA Rania Alabdali 6 MF  KSA Sara AlKhatar 7 FW  KSA Joud Al-Balhart 8 DF  KSA Tala Tayim 9 FW  TAN Enekia Kasonga 10 MF  KSA Suhair Batook 11 FW  KSA Shaiakha Al-Asiri 12 MF  KSA Rahaf AlJezani

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  COL Ximena Mideros 16 GK  NGA Tochukwu Oluehi 17 FW  KSA Seham Al-Shamsy 18 MF  KSA Hanadi Hakami 23 FW  KSA Fedaa Al-Ashoor 24 DF  KSA Salma Al- Zubaidi 66 DF  PAK Maria Khan 73 FW  KSA Saada Ibrahim 88 MF  KSA Fajer Abdullatif 25 DF  USA Erica Cunningham – GK  KSA Sara Alkarri – GK  KSA Reem Alsadat – DF  KSA Yasmeen Al-Rakayan

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Domestic

• SAFF Women's Regional League (Eastern region) (2, record):
  (2020–21, 2021–22)

International