Saudi Arabia women's football team win first international match

Saudi Arabia's women's football team won their first international match on Sunday night, beating the Seychelles 2-0.

Al-Bandari Mubarak scored the first goal for the kingdom's women's team, taking the lead 14 minutes into the friendly, played in the Maldives capital Male.

Four minutes later and Maryam Al-Tamimi made it 2-0 with a goal from the penalty spot, ending a historic first match for the Green Falcons with a win.

Their next fixtures will be against the hosts of the friendly tournament in the Maldives on Thursday.

The Saudi women football team has arrived to the Maldives to participate in international games for the first time pic.twitter.com/PGf726DTDA

— Asaad Hanna (@AsaadHannaa) February 20, 2022

The Saudi women's team, which was only established in November, hopes that the tournament will boost their chances of being accredited by FIFA, according to Arab News.

Coach Monika Staab said: "Our goal is for the players to gain the experience necessary to play international matches, in addition to our aim for our official entry into the FIFA classification." 

FIFA classification could see the team compete in international tournaments against giants of the world football stage - a remarkable achievement for the newly formed team

Saudi's first Department of Women’s Football Development was established in 2019 with a regional domestic league - featuring 16 teams - set up shortly after.

Women's football has been made huge strides in the region recently with Jordan winning the 2021 Arab Women's Cup.