Women, Football and Social Change in Saudi Arabia: Pioneer Players

(Hardback)

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This book traces the emergence of womens football in Saudi Arabia from the infancy of the grassroots-driven Riyadh Womens Football League established in 2007 to the launch of the state-sponsored, official womens community football league in 2020.

For a long time, Saudi Arabia had a mens national football team, but no womens team. Until 2018, women did not have access to football stadiums, and before 2020 there was no official womens league. On the face of it there were no women in football until top-driven policy reform suddenly turned the situation upside-down. But the story of womens football unfolding away from these headlines is a completely different one.

The research in this work is based on fieldwork focused on the Riyadh Womens Football League, interviews with women players and the pioneers of womens football in Saudi Arabia, amongst others, as well as the authors attendance at games and practices, and analysis of social and traditional media and other available documents.
In tracing the developments of womens football in Saudi Arabia, Charlotte Lysa offers a ground-breaking social history of contemporary Saudi society and a narrative of change: change within football, change in womens roles, and change in the structures of society.

Reviews

An enjoyable and accessible read for anyone interested in understanding the intersection of football and women's roles in a rapidly evolving Saudi society. The book delves into the multidimensional narratives and dynamics shaping the meanings surrounding women and football in Saudi Arabia, moving beyond a simplistic, linear outsider perspective on the topic. -- Mahfoud Amara, Associate Professor in Sport Management & Social Sciences, College of Education, Qatar University, Qatar

Author Bio

Charlotte Lysa is a Research Fellow at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her work has appeared in the journals Middle East Critique, Journal of Arabian Studies, Third World Quarterly and Soccer and Society. She holds a PhD in Middle East Studies from the University of Oslo, Norway.