Women were first allowed to watch football in stadiums in Saudi Arabia in 2018

Footballco Saudi Arabia football doc

Footballco, Glance Productions, and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation have produced a film on Saudi Arabian women’s football.

Saudi Arabian football has been thrust into the limelight over the past year, with its men’s clubs spending big to lure players from Europe. It also relaunched its women’s competitions in 2022, creating a Premier League and First Division, and is now beginning to spend on women’s players such as Nigeria international Ashleigh Plumptre joining Al-Ittihad from Leicester City. 

This has drawn controversy given Saudi Arabia’s extremely restrictive rights for women, as well as there being openly gay players in women’s football and homosexuality being illegal and potentially punishable by death in the country. Women were only first allowed to legally enter stadiums to watch football in 2018, the same year that they were first allowed to drive. 

Destined to Play: The Untold Story of Saudi Women’s Football has behind-the-scenes footage from Saudi national team matches and the players’ personal lives. It also features technical director Monika Staab and SAFF vice president Lamia Bahaian. 

Footballco is using its Goal and Kooora (the most popular sports website in the Middle East) brands to market the film globally. The film is available through FIFA+, and was directed by John Ford. 

Footballco creative director Tom Brandhorst said: “This film took us on a real journey. One in which we discovered an amazing story yet to be told.

“While much of the attention in Saudi Arabia has been on the growth of the Saudi Pro League, we expect ‘Destined To Play’ to highlight the growth and importance of women’s football in a country that is truly obsessed with the sport.”

Aalia AlRasheed, head of the women’s football department at SAFF, added: ‘’Destined to Play’ isn’t just a film; it captures the early stages of our football journey with the women’s national team. We hope this documentary shows viewers a glimpse of our huge love for the game, our commitment, dedication and hopeful ambitions.”

Andy Jackson, Football’s VP of global football partnerships said: “This is an incredibly important story to tell and an exciting new project for Footballco as we expand the services we offer to rights holders to include long-form, video storytelling of this nature. Our ability to combine world-class content production with global, multi-language content promotion is unmatched and an incredibly compelling proposition.”