The women playing on the small field knew they were taking a risk.
Former Jeddah Eagles Ladies player Massilia Kheddouci was among that group. At that time, four years ago, there was no such thing as a ‘women’s football scene’ in Saudi Arabia.
Kheddouci was born and raised in London before moving to Dubai for work in her twenties. On business trips to Saudi, she experienced gender segregation that was a way of life for those in that country. “You’d go to restaurants, cafes — anywhere — and there were two entrances: a family entrance and a single male entrance.”
When her boss floated the idea of her moving to Saudi permanently in 2019, Kheddouci initially resisted.
“I didn’t want to go,” she says. “I tried to go against it so much. I told my boss, ‘Please don’t move me there.’ Then I came and saw a whole other life that was not portrayed in the media. You probably don’t see 80 per cent of what is here in Saudi. When I first came, you’d have thought there are no human rights, a woman cannot walk next to a man, you can’t be in mixed groups and you’ve got to enter different places segregated. Now,…
