Saudi women’s football teams could play in Oceania under new deal – RNZ

Saudi Arabia's Seba Tawfiq (green) runs with the ball during a friendly football match against Bhutan in Abha on September 24, 2022. Photo: AFP

The Oceania Football Confederation and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation have signed a memorandum of understanding which could see the Middle Eastern's recently-formed women's teams play in the Pacific.

The agreement will focus on women's football, beach soccer and futsal.

The two organisations will collaborate and cooperate in areas such as technical and managerial football development, competitions and friendly matches.

"The recent development of women's football in Saudi Arabia with a women's football league and a women's national team is commendable, and OFC will be happy to share its expertise and help SAFF in this area," OFC general secretary Franck Castillo said at the signing ceremony in Sydney.

The MOU, which is for an initial period of five years, will allow teams from Saudi Arabia to participate as guests in OFC competitions, and vice versa.

The deal comes as the Women's World Cup final concludes this weekend with the final between Spain and England.

While none of the six Asian Football Confederation slots were filled by Middle Eastern teams, Morocco represented the Arab World and made the last 16.

Saudi Arabia women's team, known as the Green Falcons, played their first-ever match in February 2022 against the Seychelles, winning 2-0 win in a friendly tournament in the Maldives.

"It was an incredible journey when I was the head coach," German Monica Staab told FIFA.com.

"I was a part of history. The first official international FIFA match in the Maldives against the Seychelles. And we won. It was just amazing how these girls were playing."

Staab, who is now the technical director for the Saudi Arabian women's team, said there were 800 applicants for the try-outs for that first national team, from which they selected 35 players.

In 2019, a Premier League and a First Division were both launched in Saudi Arabia, along with a league involving 50,000 girls, and about 3,600 participating schools.

Follow this link:

Saudi women's football teams could play in Oceania under new deal - RNZ