Saudi Arabia football federation appoints first women board members

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia´s Football Federation (SAFF) appointed women to the board for the first time in the kingdom´s history on Wednesday, and also named a new president.

The two women are Adwa al-Arifi and Reham Al-Onaizan and the new president is Qusay bin Abdulaziz al-Fawaz.

Saudi authorities said al-Fawaz was the sole candidate who met all conditions for a post left empty after Adel Ezzat resigned on August 19 to run for the presidency of the Asian Football Confederation.

Al-Arifi was, Saudi media has reported, appointed in February as "the first woman committee member" in the history of SAFF. She was part of a seven-member corporate social responsibility committee, and holds a degree in business administration.

Al-Onaizan´s Linkedin page says she was "corporate performance and initiative management Senior Manager at the (Saudi) General Entertainment Authority´.

These included allowing women to enter a football stadium to watch a match for the first time in January.

Al-Fawaz has served as president of the Saudi Chess Federation and was a member of the team that oversaw Saudi Arabia´s participation in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.