Saudi Arabia to let women enter sports stadiums in 2018

Image

DUBAI, UAE - Saudi Arabia will for the first time allow women to attend sports events in three selected stadiums from early next year, the General Sports Authority said in a statement.

The stadiums in Jeddah, Dammam, and Riyadh are being prepared to accommodate families in early 2018, said the statement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency late on Sunday.

Last month Saudi Arabia announced that, from June, women would be allowed to drive cars, ending the world’s only ban on female driving.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform program aims to open up Saudis’ cloistered lifestyles, shaped in part by a strict, conservative version of Sunni Islam that limits the role of women and diversify the economy away from oil.

Related Articles

Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate race, becomes first Muslim elected to US Senate

The victory marks a milestone for Muslim representation in American politics and a breakthrough for the Democratic Party’s progressive wing.

  • World

    04-11-2026

  • 09:26AM

From the Battlefields to the Classrooms — Al-Baraa bin Malik Brigade’s Next-Generation Strategy

What is being invested in schools today is, in effect, a long-term reserve of this capacity to obstruct peace.

  • World

    04-11-2026

  • 05:59AM