The West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship kicks off today in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The competition will continue until the 29th of this month.
For many, it might come as a surprise that Saudi Arabia is hosting the tournament considering the country’s history on the rights of women.
However, in recent years, there’s been a big shift in the Middle Eastern country’s laws and regulations regarding women.
In the world of sports, the changes started around six years ago.
On Friday the 12th of January 2018 Saudi women were allowed to enter a sports stadium for the first time, to watch a soccer match between two local teams.
The rules, though, dictated that they must be segregated from the male-only crowd with designated seating in the “family section.”
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The move to grant women’s greater rights, was Saudi Arabia’s first social reform planned for the year.
The kingdom also announced that starting in June the same year, women would be allowed to drive, lifting the world’s only ban on female drivers.
Saudi Arabia also saw Dania Akeel, a motorsport athlete, become the first Saudi female to participate in an International Rally Competition.
Dania began as a leisure motorcyclist before transferring to rally racing – now she’s one of the top drivers at Dakar, one of the toughest rally races in the world.
Six years on, from today, the kingdom will host the eighth West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship in Jeddah.
It continues until the end of this month.
This new edition of the tournament is unique as it’s being held for the first time in Saudi Arabia, with what is set to become the kingdom’s first-ever participation in a women’s regional championship under the organization of the West Asian Federation.
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Lamia Bahaian, Vice President of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting the WAFF Women’s Championship.
Looking ahead to what promises to be a brilliant tournament, we’re especially excited about the impact this will have in terms of inspiring women and young girls across the kingdom while supporting women’s football development nationally and regionally.”
The host team, coached by the former Barcelona coach Lluis Cortes, has been drawn into group A with Lebanon, Guam, and Jordan, while Group B will see Palestine, Nepal, Syria and Iraq fight for the two qualifying spots.
Saudi Arabia Women lost 1-3 to Jordan Women in their opening match on Monday night.
The hosts have got a chance to redeem themselves when they clash against Lebanon tomorrow night.
Jordan Women are the current defending Champions of the West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship and they have won it twice already.
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They became the champs when the Kingdom of Bahrain hosted in 2019 and won again when it hosted in 2022.
In fact Jordan women are the tote favorites as they have won the previous three editions (2014,2019 and 2022) of the West Asian Federation Women’s Football Championship.
Khalil Al Salem, WAFF General Secretary, commented: “For WAFF, our mission has always been to promote football development by various means – including by organizing championships across territories and paving the way for countries to compete and fans to become inspired.
This announcement is the latest testament that our direction of travel is positive.
There is no doubt that this tournament will witness high-level competition and exceptional organization, building on the Saudi Arabian Football Federation’s successful track record in hosting football tournaments at various levels.”
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