Saudi_Arabia_women's_national_football_team

Saudi Arabia women's national football team

Saudi Arabia women's national football team

Women's national association football team representing Saudi Arabia

This article is about the women's team. For the men's team, see Saudi Arabia national football team.

The Saudi Arabia women's national football team (Arabic: المنتخب السعودي لكرة القدم للسيدات) is the official women's national football team of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The team is controlled by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF), the governing body for football in Saudi Arabia.

Quick Facts Nickname(s), Association ...

Colloquially called "the Green Falcons", Saudi Arabia played their first match in 2022 against the Seychelles in a 2–0 win in a friendly tournament in the Maldives.

History

Main article: Women's football in Saudi Arabia

Background

Due to the influence of religious leaders in Saudi Arabia, active opposition of political leaders and sport administrators, and systematic discrimination against women's sport, a women's national team could not exist for a long time.[2] The creation of a FIFA-recognised women's national team was banned by law in 2008.[3] Systemic discrimination remained intact despite limited reforms, until the death of King Abdullah in 2015.[4]

With King Salman's ascension to the throne in 2015, talks about football reforms escalated. However, his son Mohammed bin Salman was the first to spearhead the reforms, including to women's football.[5] Saudi Arabia allowed women to attend football games since 2017, the first step for a future creation of a women's football team.[6]

In December 2019, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) organised the first unofficial women's competition in the Jeddah area.[7] An official nationwide tournament, the amateur Saudi Women's Football League, was launched in February 2020, concentrated in three big cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam.[8] Following the creation of the league, calls for a creation of a women's national team increased.[9]

Inception

On 11 August 2021, the SAFF appointed Monika Staab as head coach of the newly-established women's national team.[10] Saudi Arabia played their first games in February 2022, taking part in a friendly tournament in Malé, Maldives.[11] They debuted on 20 February, beating Seychelles in a 2–0 win.[12] Following the successful debut, Lamia Bin Bahian, a board member of the SAFF, revealed a long term plan to allow the team to participate in the first FIFA Women's World Cup in the next ten years, with the aim to become a dominant force in the Gulf, West Asia, and Asian level.[13]

Results and fixtures

Main article: Saudi Arabia women's national football team results

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.[14][15]

Legend

  Win   Draw   Lose   Fixture

2023

26 February 2023 Friendly Saudi Arabia  0–1  Indonesia Dammam, Saudi Arabia
18:00 UTC+3 Report
  • Baiq 18'
 Stadium: Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium
7 May 2023 Friendly Saudi Arabia  0–0  Palestine Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
19:00 UTC+3 Stadium: Sports Hall at King Abdullah Sports City
11 May 2023 Friendly Saudi Arabia  1–1  Palestine Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
19:00 UTC+3
  • Miral 69'
 Stadium: Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium
13 June 2023 Friendly Saudi Arabia  1–3  Andorra Peralada, Spain
  • Gonçalves 6'
  • Ruzafa 19'
  • Morato 45'
 Stadium: Estadi Municipal De Peralada
17 June 2023 Friendly Saudi Arabia  0–3  Andorra Peralada, Spain
 Stadium: Estadi Municipal De Peralada
18 September 2023 2023 SAFF Women's Friendly Tournament Saudi Arabia  0–0  Malaysia Taif, Saudi Arabia
20:30 UTC+3 Stadium: King Fahd Sports City
24 September 2023 2023 SAFF Women's Friendly Tournament Pakistan  0–1  Saudi Arabia Taif, Saudi Arabia
20:30 UTC+3 Report B. Al-Hwsawi 90+5' Stadium: King Fahd Sports City
27 September 2023 2023 SAFF Women's Friendly Tournament Saudi Arabia  0–1 (a.e.t.)  Bhutan Taif, Saudi Arabia
20:30 UTC+3
  • Bidha 112'
 Stadium: King Fahd Sports City
Referee: Nodira Mirzoeva (Tajikistan)
30 September 2023 2023 SAFF Women's Friendly Tournament Saudi Arabia  0–1  Malaysia Taif, Saudi Arabia
17:30 UTC+3
Stadium: King Fahd Sports City

2024

8 January 2024 Friendly Saudi Arabia  2–0  Syria Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
18:00 UTC+3
Report Stadium: King Abdullah Sports City
12 January 2024 Friendly Saudi Arabia  3–0  Syria Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
18:00 UTC+3
  • N. Saud Yellow card 43'
  • Mobarak 45+1', 76', 82'
 Report
  • R. Ibrahim Yellow card 63'
 Referee: Doumouh Al Bakkar (Lebanon)
19 February 2024 2024 WAFF Women's Championship Saudi Arabia  1–3  Jordan Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
20:00 UTC+3
Report
Stadium: King Abdullah Sports City
Referee: Mohamed Juma (Bahrain)
21 February 2024 2024 WAFF Women's Championship Lebanon  3–2  Saudi Arabia Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
20:00 UTC+3
Report
Stadium: King Abdullah Sports City Reserve Stadium
Referee: Ahmed Gatea (Iraq)
23 February 2024 2024 WAFF Women's Championship Saudi Arabia  0–2  Guam Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
20:00 UTC+3 Report Anaya 21', 42' Stadium: King Abdullah Sports City Reserve Stadium
Referee: Alesar Baddour (Syria)

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

As of 11 February 2023
More information Role, Name ...

Manager history

Players

Main article: List of Saudi Arabia women's international footballers
Main category: Saudi Arabia women's international footballers

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for the 2024 WAFF Women's Championship.[20]

Caps and goals correct as of 23 February 2024 after the match against  Guam

More information No., Pos. ...

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the squad in the past 12 months.

More information Pos., Player ...

Records

  • Active players in bold, statistics correct as of 8 January 2024.[15]
More information #, Player ...

Competitive record

So far, the team hasn't competed in the FIFA Women's World Cup, the Olympic Games, the Arab Women's Cup, the WAFF Women's Championship or the AFC Women's Asian Cup. They also haven't competed at the Asian Games yet, but as hosts for the 2034 edition they are automatically qualified.

Asian Games

Main article: Saudi Arabia at the Asian Games
More information Asian Games record, Hosts / Year ...
*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Head-to-head record

Key
  Positive balance (more wins than losses)
  Neutral balance (as many wins as losses)
  Negative balance (more losses than wins)

The following table shows Saudi Arabia's all-time official international record per opponent:

More information Opponent, Pld ...

Last updated: Saudi Arabia vs Syria, 12 January 2024.[15]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking". FIFA. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  2. [2]
    "Hijabs approved for soccer players by FIFA – Montreal – CBC News". Cbc.ca. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  3. [3]
    "Women's football". New Statesman. 137: 20. 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  4. [4]
    "Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia After King Abdullah".
  5. [5]
    "Salman: Rave in desert, women drivers: How Saudi is undergoing sweeping changes under Prince Salman – Times of India". The Times of India. 26 December 2021.
  6. [6]
    "Saudi Arabia reforms open turnstiles to female football fans". Financial Times. 12 January 2018.
  7. [7]
    "Jeddah Eagles flying high with women's football win". Arab News. 9 December 2019.
  8. [8]
    "Saudi Arabia launches a soccer league for women". CNN. 27 February 2020.
  9. [9]
    "Arab nations cannot afford to ignore the rise of women's football". 29 July 2020.
  10. [10]
    "Monika Staab appointed coach of Saudi women's national football team". Arab News. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  11. [11]
    "Saudi Arabian women's national team set for historic international debut in Maldives". Orbital Affairs. 18 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  12. [12]
    "Saudi women's national football team beat Seychelles in historic international win". Arab News. 20 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  13. [13]
    (AR)لمياء بن بهيان: نخطط لمشاركة منتخب السعودية للسيدات في كأس العالم خلال 10 أعوام
  14. [14]
    "Women's National Team (2024)". Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF). Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  15. [15]
    "Saudi Arabia – Team Info". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  16. [16]
    "Former Barcelona manager Lluis Cortes named Saudi Arabia women's head coach". theathletic.com. Charlotte Harpur. 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  17. [17]
    "Who's Who: Monika Staab, new coach of the Saudi women's national football team". arabnews.com. 15 August 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  18. [18]
    "الاتحاد السعودي يقدم شكره لمدربة منتخب السيدات روزا لابي بعد انتهاء مدة عقدها - الاتحاد السعودي لكرة القدم".
  19. [19]
    "من هو لويس كورتيس المدرب الجديد لأخضر السيدات؟".
  20. [20]
    "جدة تستضيف معسكر المنتخب الوطني للسيدات قبل بطولة غرب اسيا".
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Saudi_Arabia_women's_national_football_team, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.