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ALM Feature

Once-banned, Saudi women's soccer team wins big as Riyadh woos FIFA

A Saudi women's soccer team that was unthinkable a decade ago is now winning championships, but Australia and New Zealand have lodged a complaint to FIFA over the kingdom's reported sponsorship of upcoming tournament.
Saudi women's soccer team celebrates their win at the Women’s International Friendly Tournament in January.

A Saudi national women’s team winning a tournament would ideally be front-page news. But a friendly match showcasing contemporary soccer's four greatest male stars in the nation’s capital on the same day almost drowned out the story in Saudi Arabia last month.

Faraway from Riyadh’s King Fahd International Stadium, where Cristiano Ronaldo of the Al Nassr-Al Hilal combined XI and Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe of visiting Paris Saint-Germain met for the first time on any pitch, Saudi Arabia’s national women's team were crowned champions at the Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium in Al-Khobar, a small city some 400 kilometers (248 miles) from the capital. They were competing at the four-nation Women’s International Friendly Tournament alongside soccer teams from Pakistan, Mauritius and Comoros. 

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