Our editor Anushree Nande talks to Sarah Algashgari, a female football fan in Saudi Arabia. She investigates the state of women’s rights, and how women’s football there is quietly leading the way for a societal change.
On June 13, 1956, Real Madrid became the winners of the inaugural European Cup, beating Reims 4-3 in Paris. Almost 3000 kilometres away from the Parc des Princes, a new stadium was being built. With an estimated cost of 480 million euros and a seating capacity of 81,000, the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow was officially opened on July 31, 1956. Sometime that year, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation was formed.
On June 14, 2018, the Luzhniki stadium will be the venue for the opening ceremony of the World Cup, before hosts Russia face Saudi Arabia in the tournament’s first match. The latter have qualified for their first world championship since 2006, but this chance goes beyond football for them if the past year is any indication. As hungry as the Russians are to prove their worth as hosts and representatives of the host nation, Saudi Arabia, are on the cusp of what appears to be a genuine step in the direction of change and one wonders how that will impact or manifest in their performance out there under the floodlights.
Abdul Aziz created Saudi Arabia in 1932 as an absolute monarchy based on the Wahhabi school of Sunni Islamic thought.