Saudi tournaments crucial for women’s golf momentum, says LET chief
The history-making Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by Public Investment Fund returns this month
The inaugural event credited with inspiring thousands of Saudi women to try golf
Updated 02 November 2021
Arab News
JEDDAH: Women’s golf in Saudi Arabia needs to keep building on its massive momentum, according to Ladies European Tour chief executive officer Alex Armas.
Armas was speaking ahead of the return of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by Public Investment Fund from Nov. 4 to 7. The tournament made history last year as the first professional women’s sport event to be staged in Saudi Arabia.
The individual event helped restart the LET season, which had come to a complete halt during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, impacting its professional players. The tournament returns to Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City.
“The reaction we got last year blew everyone’s mind,” said Armas.
“We didn’t think we were going to get the interest we did from it being on live terrestrial TV within Saudi and the coverage it received. It just made sense to come back to do it again and to keep building on that and I think that is what we will be doing going forward. Golf Saudi has big plans for the women’s game. Although we’re only at the beginning, it’s been a fast trajectory.
“Last year golf stopped. Our players weren’t competing. We managed to get some momentum and we managed to have the first event in Jeddah with the Aramco Saudi Ladies International and as we had the players there, we did the back-to-back tournaments with the team event.
“We made history and I think we didn’t know what to expect when we went the first time, but now the players know, we know what the golf courses will be like, and what the hospitality will be like — everyone is looking forward to being back.”
The Aramco Team Series — Jeddah will follow from Nov. 10-12 at the same venue, for a doubleheader of LET-sanctioned events alongside Golf Saudi.
The success of the Aramco Team Series, which has taken place in London, Spain, and the US, has put a spotlight on the challenges of international women’s sport and addressing gender equality in golf.
Armas added: “There is a challenge in women’s sport. We don’t get the coverage of the men but there is a shift in that and the equality movement and the corporate companies are realizing there is an imbalance. We need to showcase them and their stories and incredible journeys. We still have a long way to go. People don’t realize what good athletes these women are and if they don’t get to see that they don’t understand that. They can compete. They are as good athletes as the men.”
Armas also referenced the importance of elite women’s sport being visible to inspire active participation in growing sporting markets such as Saudi Arabia. Last year’s events coincided with the launch of the Ladies First Club powered by Aramco — a free-golfing initiative that saw 1,200 women and girls register to learn the game over the tournament’s four days.
Armas said: “I think it’s hugely important because across the globe, we need to get the population more active and involved in sports.
“I think the best way to do that is obviously through live sports on TV and for people to be able to become inspired by these athletes and look up to them as role models. Having so many sporting events of the quality that Saudi is bringing to the Kingdom will be hugely important to growing participation in various sports. The amount of people that signed up for the Ladies First Club and the amount of positive feedback was immense.”
Tickets for both tournaments at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City are available now, free of charge.
How Saudi football scored in the runup to 2026 FIFA World Cup
Saudi Pro League asserted global dominance with star-studded lineups and record-breaking performances from Asia’s elite top-tier clubs
Domestic leagues reached new heights, yet the national team faces mounting pressure ahead of a high-stakes global tournament
Updated 03 January 2026
Ali Khaled
DUBAI: FIFA President Gianni Infantino seemed full of optimism on Dec. 21 when he said Saudi Arabia had become a major hub on the global football stage and that the Saudi Pro League was on track to become one of the top three in the world.
With players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and a nation crazy about the great game, this endorsement perhaps comes as little surprise.
Infantino also predicted a successful World Cup in 2034 when the tournament will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. With infrastructure being built and upgraded, the Expo 2030 venue under construction, and reforms underway, the World Cup seems destined to be a success.
At the 2026 World Cup, Saudi Arabia will face Uruguay, European champions Spain, and Cape Verde in their three Group H matches, taking place in Miami, Atlanta, and Houston respectively. (Reuters/File)
The FIFA boss also praised the progress made not only at the senior national team level and across youth categories, but also in the women’s game, thanks to the backing of football authorities in recent years.
While this paints a positive picture of the game in the Kingdom, it follows the national team’s 1-0 loss to Jordan in the semi-finals of the 2025 Arab Cup. Many supporters will need far more convincing of the team’s prospects going into the New Year.
Although the return of Herve Renard as coach of the Green Falcons following Roberto Mancini’s disappointing stint has resulted in a second consecutive World Cup qualification (and seventh overall), failure to win the Arab Cup in Qatar and some less than inspiring performances means the jury is still out on the Frenchman.
At the 2026 World Cup, Saudi Arabia will face Uruguay, European champions Spain, and Cape Verde in their three Group H matches, taking place in Miami, Atlanta, and Houston respectively.
Saudi fans sharing Infantino’s positive outlook will hope Renard’s men can emulate the historic win over Argentina on that memorable night at Lusail Stadium in 2022. But that is far easier said than done, and many remain unconvinced.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring a goal during the Saudi Pro League. (AFP/File)
For a start, just as Poland and Mexico were alerted to Saudi Arabia’s potential following that humbling of Lionel Messi and co in Qatar, their opponents in the US will likewise be on their guard this time around.
Worryingly for Saudi fans, the team has rarely, if at all, hit the same highs since Saleh Al-Shehri’s equalizer and Salem Al-Dawsari’s stunning strike brought about arguably the most famous win in the Green Falcons’ history.
The 2023 AFC Asian Cup, played in early 2024 and only months after Mancini’s arrival, saw Saudi Arabia eliminated by South Korea on penalties in the round of 16.
World Cup qualification was eventually secured but not before the team needed to negotiate a fourth round group that included Iraq and Indonesia in October.
The semi-final exit at the Arab Cups prompted rumors — immediately denied by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation — that Renard’s job was under threat. Still, it was hardly a ringing endorsement of the way things had turned out on his second stint as national team coach.
Al-Ahli's Roberto Firmino lifts the trophy as he celebrates with teammates after winning the Asian Champions League. (Reuters/File)
Outspoken Saudi-based football pundit Battal Algoos has been scathing in his criticism of Renard and his employers, and in particular of the excuses for the Arab Cup disappointment.
“It seems to be a contagion that has affected the Saudi camp,” he said on the football show “Filmarma” on Al Arabiya.
“Everyone justifies (their position) through others’ failures. We brought you to win a championship, not to say ‘those before me didn’t win championships, I’m no worse than them’.
“It seems to be contagious, from (SAFF President) Yasser Al-Misehal to Renard. Or their thinking is one and the same.”
Paul Williams, Australian journalist and founder and presenter of “The Asian Game” podcast, was at Lusail Stadium the day Saudi Arabia beat the eventual world champions, but believes urgent fixes are needed by Renard this time round.
New Murabba Stadium. (Supplied)
“There are a multitude of areas that Saudi Arabia need to improve,” he told Arab News. “The obvious is in the final third, where there are still issues finding a reliable avenue to goal, an issue that blighted most of their qualification campaign.
“But they also haven’t yet found a capable replacement in midfield for Salman Al-Faraj, and the entire narrative around Saudi football has changed since before 2022.
“There has always been pressure and expectation from the fans, but that is even more intense now and it feels like that sits heavily on the squad, who are yet to prove they are capable of delivering under that burden of expectation.”
The team’s main concern remains, as it was four years ago in Qatar, its lack of fire power up front and an over-reliance on Al-Dawsari for goals and inspiration. In that sense, at least the 34-year-old talisman can still be relied on.
The Al-Hilal and Saudi Arabia captain provided one of the highlights of 2025 when he was named AFC Player of the Year at the awards ceremony in Riyadh. Al-Dawsari is the only Saudi to have won the Asian award twice.
On an individual level, he enjoyed a stellar 2024-25 season with his club, although Al-Hilal lost out on the Saudi Pro League title to a Benzema-inspired Al-Ittihad.
Al-Dawsari and Al-Hilal came back strongly in the summer to reach the quarter-finals of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the US, along the way drawing 1-1 with Real Madrid in the group stage and brilliantly beating Manchester City 4-3 in the round of 16.
Domestically, however, it is their local rivals that have stolen all the headlines, with their lead at the top of the SPL delighting millions of fans around the world and perhaps in the process reinforcing Infantino’s estimation of the league.
Al-Nassr, now managed by former Al-Hilal boss Jorge Jesus and inspired by the relentlessly enduring Ronaldo, look near invincible at the top of the table, having won all nine matches during this campaign.
The coronation that their fans and the Portuguese legend’s army of global followers had envisioned since he landed in Riyadh three years ago is looking increasingly likely to happen in May. Their end of year report card is glowing 9 out of 10.
Cristiano Ronaldo scores a goal in the Saudi Pro League. (Reuters/File)
Al-Hilal, the self-styled Real Madrid of Asia, can never be counted out however, and the title race in 2026 could be one of the most exciting and close in recent years.
Reigning champions Al-Ittihad, on the other hand, have put up a dismal defense of their title resulting in the sacking of Laurent Blanc, who was succeeded by Sergio Conceicao. Their card will read “must do better.”
Al-Ahli provided further evidence of the SPL’s continental dominance by claiming the 2025 AFC Champions League Elite after beating Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 in Jeddah last May.
Elsewhere, Aramco-owned Al-Qadsiah and newly promoted NEOM provide intriguing plot lines as they sit in fifth and eighth respectively, while Al-Taawoun continue to punch above their weight in third.
One of the standout personalities of the season has been US investor Ben Harburg who — through Harburg Group — acquired 100 percent of Al-Kholood in July, making it the first Saudi club wholly owned by a foreign entity. The purchase opens up new possibilities for the SPL.
Al-Hilal's Salem Al-Dawsari poses with the trophy and the President of the Asian Football Confederation Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa after winning the AFC Player of the Year. (Reuters/File)
There is little debate now that the SPL is the most powerful and entertaining in Asia and could in future years, if Infantino is right, become one of the world’s best. The national team’s standing however, until the 2026 World Cup at least, remains up in the air.
