Saudi Arabia has achieved a history - and another successful whitewashing campaign

On 20 February 2022, in the tourist islands-nation Maldives, two women's teams, both are less known to the world, marched into the pitch of Rasmee Dhandu Stadium in the capital Malé.

That was no normal match however. It was a historic debut of the women's team of Saudi Arabia, the Middle Eastern Kingdom known for being strict and repressive toward women for decades. The opponents, Seychelles, is also a pretty less known African team, both in men's and women's level. In the end, the conservative met the unknown, and Saudi Arabia triumphed 2-0, courtesies by a corner kick strike from Al-Bandari Mubarak before Mariam Al-Tamimi doubled the lead. These ladies were the first-ever scorers for Saudi Arabia. 16 players were granted their historic debuts.

Pelé, the greatest statue of international football, offered a congratulation on Twitter. When you get the congratulations from the Brazilian legend, it is certain that the country has won certification.

Yet as CNN pointed out, Saudi Arabia claimed the triumph at the expense of many dissidents, who are being brutally jailed and tortured in Saudi prisons. As for 2022, political prisoners jailed in Saudi Arabia have shown no sign of declining, rather mounting with an alarming sign. This is aided by the coronavirus pandemic, which Saudi Arabia's ruling class, notably Mohammed bin Salman, successfully extended its mandate.

Moreover, the decision to play friendlies in the Maldives also has some political elements too, not just at home only. The Maldives, while more liberal, is a Muslim-majority country. Playing in a Muslim state will enhance Saudi Arabia's certification, the country has exerted a significant influence in the islands and the Maldives have been critical of Iran's expansion in the region. The Maldives have severed all ties with Iran in 2016, following the attacks against Saudi embassy in Tehran by Iranian protesters. Recently, Iran has made a breakthrough in women's football, with the country qualified for the first-ever Women's Asian Cup in 2022, and there is a fear that if Saudi Arabia could not establish a women's football team, it could lose ground to Iran.

Iranian players celebrated after beating Jordan on penalty shootout to qualify for the 2022 Women's Asian Cup.

Probably the Saudi leadership understood how problematic its relations with Iran is. Saudi Arabia and Iran are currently fighting for influence in the region, and anything that promoted Iranian influence would not be welcomed by Saudi Arabia, as seen with the bloody war in Yemen. Seriously however, after Iran claimed its debut in the Women's Asian Cup, the Saudis had made their response clear: "if Iran can feed a women's football team, we will do it even better". That game versus Seychelles showed Saudi Arabia's charm offence could actually work out.

The next opponent for the Kingdom's newfound women's side will be the hosts Maldives. Saudi Arabia, however, did not intend to stop there. As explained in various reports prior to the historic game, Saudi Arabian football makers aimed to make the country the strongest in West Asia, then to be included into Asia's women elites. It does not hide the ambition to topple the Eastern Asians, who are traditionally seen as women's powerhouses in the continent. Only in this part of Asia alone contributed nine World Cup participants, with Vietnam and the Philippines the upcoming debutants for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, held in AFC member Australia and New Zealand. Also, Eastern Asia has gained notorious fame for hosting the first-ever Women's World Cup champions, Japan, which conquered the title in 2011.

Japanese players celebrated their 2011 World Cup triumph amidst the tragic earthquake at home earlier.

However, Saudi Arabia will have to seek its way to progress to the Women's Asian Cup, at least for that. That promised not to be easy as alone in the same qualifying process, Saudi Arabia will have to surpass the likes of Thailand, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei and the Philippines, which have been recently stronger in women's football and have already qualified for the World Cup. Not to even say that Saudi Arabia has to overcome other middle forces like India, Uzbekistan and Myanmar, which are no doubt, pretty good as well. Unlike how Saudi Arabia can dominate them in men's football, this is reverse in the women's game. If the AFC wants to establish a separate women's qualifiers or not, then it's up for the officials to decide.

The Saudis must be aware about the rough pass for a World Cup debut. With the Asian Cup for women to decide who to participate, the current qualifying system is not favourable for the Kingdom. If the Saudis could not achieve what it wanted for the first ten years, then the money flow would drop and Saudi women's football would regress from its original development. Not to say it has a decentralised football competition for women's football, with three regional zones hosting as groups, playing one-turn round-robin format to seek semi-finalists and eventual champions, rather than a concrete one.

Still, with Saudi Arabia has not released political prisoners, it becomes an absurd reality to say that its women's team is actually doing the favour for the monarchy, a true whitewashing moment. Uncertain policies of liberalisation mixed with authoritarian rule does nothing except confusion. Henceforth, from the successful women's debut and a political issue ranging at home, we must have a real, real question: what does Saudi Arabia plan next?

Probably, in the near future, Saudi Arabia, having been unable to form a women's team to play before the 2022 Women's Asian Cup, is likely to seek an entrance to the 2022 Asian Games for women's football. The Games will be hosted by China, in the city of Hangzhou. Mind some facts, China is one of the strongest forces of women's football in Asia, already won the Asian Cup nine times and winning the Asian Games three times, while the current Asian Games champions is former World Cup champions Japan, winning it two times. If Saudi Arabia can make the entrance, it'll be a glorious moment for the Kingdom itself.

At the same time, the Saudi ruling family is expected to increase its draconian control under the mask of liberalisation, with the power increasingly centralised under the new Crown Prince. And to ensure his power untouched, probably Saudi Arabia will feed its women's football, until they could [not] achieve what the Saudi football officials required.