RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal announced on Thursday that the pioneering Adwaa Al-Arifi would be appointed as assistant minister for sports affairs.

Al-Arifi thanked the minister for entrusting her with such a responsibility.

She had previously served as the deputy minister of planning and development at the Ministry of Sports from November 2020.

Al-Arifi attended Al-Yamamah University in Riyadh, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2011. As an undergraduate student, she founded the Al-Yamamah Female Football Club in 2007 and acted as president of the university’s student council.

In 2008, she founded the Riyadh Female Football Committee, with the aim of developing regulations and rules for football leagues, management and planning, as well as training and referee workshops.

Al-Arifi started her journey in the workplace with Saudi Fransi Capital in 2012 as part of an asset management rotation program for fresh graduates and was recruited a year later as a portfolio officer in that department. Between 2014 and 2016, she served as a fund manager, building up her expertise in the stock exchange and in asset classes across different markets.

Halfway through 2016, she consulted for Portas Consulting, where she focused on project analysis and strategy implementation in Saudi Arabia’s sports scene. In 2019, Al-Arifi joined the Ministry of Sports as an investment director.

Having accumulated 10 years of experience in the Saudi football scene, she is making history with her accomplishments in the Kingdom’s sports sector.

Al-Arifi was appointed to the board of the Saudi Olympic Committee 2019.

Earlier that same year, she was the first Saudi woman appointed to the Saudi Football Federation, joining a seven-member committee.

Meanwhile, the minister also announced that Abdulaziz Baeshen has been appointed as CEO and secretary-general of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee.