Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Mar 4 ((IANS): For decades, women in Saudi Arabia were not allowed to participate in sports. But thanks to the winds of change prevailing in the entire region in the last several years, Saudi Arabia now has a flourishing league for female football players with 694 players representing 25 clubs in all two divisions -- Premier League and First Division.

The changes occurred after the South Africa Football Federation (SAFF) established a Women's Football Department in 2019. They started the league in 2021 with 374 players representing 16 clubs. Since then, women's football in the country has grown 86 per cent and when the latest edition was held in January 2023, eight clubs including Al Hilal, Al Nassr, Al Shabab, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad putting up 237 players in the SAFF Women's Premier League 2022-23.

The SAFF Women's Premier League 2022-23 involved 457 players representing 17 clubs. The leagues feature 50 international players from 20 countries -- Brazil, Morocco, Germany, Egypt, Tunisia, Ghana, United Kingdom, France and Ecuador.

Colloquially called "the Green Falcons", the Saudi Arabia women's national team played its first match in 2022 against Seychelles in a 2-0 win in a friendly tournament in the Maldives.

Considering the rapid development of women's football in Saudi Arabia, the All India Football Federation has made collaboration with Saudi Arabia for the development of women's football a main point in the MOU signed between the two federations in October 2022.

"We may not have the Indian men's national team playing Saudi Arabia national team in near future because of the huge gap between the two teams. Also, the Saudi Arabia men's team has its calendar for friendlies chalked out for the next few years. But we are definitely looking forward to having the women's national teams playing in friendlies soon," said Dr Shaji Prabhakaran during an informal interaction with the media here on Saturday.

"The last time India played the Saudi Arabia men's national football team was for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. Since then we have not played them. So, we are trying but it will not happen soon. In the meantime, we can have matches between the women's teams of the two countries and the age-group outfits. That will be mutually beneficial to the two countries," he added.

The two federations are also planning to have technical collaboration.

"We are trying to learn from the Saudi Arabia Football Federation regarding various aspects of the game. We want to use their technical knowhow on developing leagues, organising tournaments and grassroots development," said Dr Prabakaran.