This week, we look again at the Saudi Arabia Women's Premier League as its 2023-24 regular season has started, with a different mix of imports for the league's eight teams from last season (it's inaugural campaign as a professional league), which we reviewed extensively a few months ago, as the Saudi Arabia Football Federation focuses on ramping up extensive growth of women's football in the nation.

Saudi Arabia Women's Premier League 2023-24

We look again at the Saudi Arabia Premier League (after our recent extensive review of the 2022-23 season: The Week in Women's Football: Are you ready for this? Mega-bucks Saudi Pro League planned for 2025 - Tribal Football), focusing on their imports five games into the 2023-24 regular season, with some interesting new arrivals in the country, including a number from the U.S. and other nations within CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, along with players from Sweden, France, Spain and England, along with Pakistan's WNT captain, who lives in the UAE but grew up in the States.

The Americans in the loop this season include two at Al Qadsiah: midfielder Zaneta Wynn (33--who has two goals thus far and played at the University of New Mexico and in Cyprus, England Finland, Iceland, Scotland and with Racing Louisville of the NWSL in 2022 and 2023) and goalkeeper Lindsey Harris (30), who played at the University of North Carolina, in the NWSL and in Iceland, Norway and Portugal before moving to Saudi Arabia for this current season (she leads the league in shutouts with four from five games, tied with Saudi Arabia's Muna Abdulrahman of Al Shabab).

Also with Al Qadsiah is Mexican international Veronica Perez, who grew up in the States and played at the University of Washington in the WPS and NWSL in the States, Iceland, Australia and Mexico with Tijuana, Club America and Atlas and has over 80 caps for her country. Al Qadsiah also has brought in two Colombians, a Brazilian—defender Rayanne Machado (29), who earned two full caps and played with Flamengo and Braga of Portugal since 2016—and Jessica Aby from the Ivory Coast, who played in Cyprus and Spain.

For Eastern Flames or Shua'lat Al-Sharqia, other imports include Sofia Ochoa (28) of Mexico, who started playing in Liga MX Femenil during the first season with Monterrey Rayados and then with Santos Laguna and last summer with the Houston Aces in the WPSL and Maria Khan, who is American-born and Pakistan's WNT captain and has lived in the United Arab Emirates since 2015. Their other imports come from Colombia, Tanzania—Enekia Kasonga Lunyamila (21), who has four goals this season and has played in Morocco and earlier this year with FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih of Ukraine—and Nigeria's international goalkeeper Tochukwu Oluehi (36), who was on their WNT this past summer in Australia at the Women's World Cup Finals as well as at the Finals in France in 2019 and Germany in 2011; she has played in Belarus, Israel, Norway, Portugal and Turkey as well as at home.

Samindra Kunti in World Soccer (December 2023; pages 30-33), when profiling the upcoming men's FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia, wrote: "Brand Saudi Arabia is deeply flawed. The country 'spends billions of dollars hosting major entertainment, cultural and sporting events as a deliberate strategy to deflect from the country's image as a pervasive human rights violator' according to Human Rights Watch.

"The Kingdom, however, sees football as a projection of soft power that can help normalize external perceptions of Saudi Arabia as well as the perceptions of its younger population demanding modernization. Football and sports play a key part in Vision 2030, a $7 trillion initiative to diversity the Saudi economy beyond oil. That's the PR line Saudi Arabia and FIFA will roll out in the decade to come, starting in Jeddah [at the World Club Cup this month]."

Forward Maria Khan (33), grew up in Colorado, played goalkeeper at the University of Denver and then moved to the United Arab Emirates in 2015 to attend graduate school. She then worked at Ford's regional headquarters in the Strategy Department handling E-Commerce efforts.She explained on a UAE media channel that: "I played football on the side. It's not what pays the bills. It doesn't put food on the table."

She married Omar Al Duri, a media personality, author, health and fitness ambassador and English-born football coach in the UAE (with a coaching license from Wales' FA), who is of Iraqi and Saudi heritage and who had himself moved to the country in 2009 to develop health and fitness in the country. Al Duri coached Ghana's men's team in 2015 at the African Championships and they qualified for the U-20 WWC Finals in New Zealand, where they lost to fellow African side Mali 3-0 in the round of 16; he also coached UAE's women national team; Khan played with them as a guest for friendlies.

Pakistan's women's national team started playing again after FIFA lifted its ban on their Federation in 2022—they had received multiple bans from November 2014 to June 2022 and thus the women's team had not played since hosting the South Asian Football Federation Championship late in 2014. When she started playing for Pakistan at the international level in 2022, she started to think more seriously about football; she played a short season for Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA F.C.) in Lahore.

She lost her automotive company job in April 2023 when Ford decided to move its regional headquarters to India (automotive manufacturers do move their corporate headquarters within the region on occasion—some years ago GM moved from Singapore to Tokyo). Khan scored on a wonderful long distance free kick in a 1-1 tie versus host side Saudi Arabia earlier this year and was named the Most Valuable Player of the Women's International Friendly Tournament at the Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium in Al-Khobar city. Pakistan finished runners-up to Saudi Arabia but ahead of the other teams in the four-nation tournament: Comoros and Mauritius.

Khan reflected on that tournament and, looking back, she saw it essentially as a trial for teams there; she signed a contract with Eastern Flames for the season from August 2023 through April of 2024. Khan thought that, because of her age [33], she had "missed the boat" in terms of playing professionally but Eastern Flames had reached out to her.

She also has Pakistan WNT commitments so she is traveling a lot. She is passionate about representing the country of her ancestors and stated that it was: "The greatest sporting honor I could ever have and [am] grateful for that." She sees that she is opening doors for many young girls globally to represent her country as an athlete and a person and provide opportunities for women in the future because she has gone to Saudi Arabia. Her teammate Erica Cunningham said that Khan has: "been doing great things and trying to help girls go to different leagues from Pakistan."

Her uncle is Jahangir Khan, who is considered the greatest professional squash player of all time in Pakistan and later became the President of the World Squash Federation.

Khan said about Pakistan's women's national team program: "The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has faced numerous challenges politically and financially, similar to many other emerging countries and football federations. FIFA has been working closely with the PFF to help restore football activities for the country and this national team camp [that she attended] was the first official football activity for women's soccer in seven years.

"My experience at the national team camp was something that I will cherish for a lifetime. The reason being, there always seems to be a preconceived notion that women's sports in countries like Pakistan are non-existent and that the women are oppressed. However, I feel it is quite the opposite based on my experience over the past few years. Despite the lack of resources and funding into women's sports in Pakistan, the level of raw talent is amazing. The future generations of female soccer players in the country is extremely bright and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the girls come to the U.S. to participate in the NCAA and take advantage of the opportunities that college soccer has to offer."

Raised in Aurora, Colorado, Khan has a message for young players in the U.S. who don't appreciate the extensive resources that are poured into the game there at the youth level: "Don't miss practices because 'you don't feel like it' or 'aren't in the mood', take strength and conditioning seriously and focus on nutrition and recovery early in your career. We are very fortunate in America to have the education, opportunities and resources at our disposal; countries like the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan aren't as lucky."

Al Ahli has two imports from Ghana: Alice Kusi (28), who has been capped a few times from 2016-2018 and played for clubs at home, in Lebanon, Jordan and Serbia before joining Al Ahli this year and Cecilia Hagan (23), who played at home with Elmina Sea Lions. Al Ahli's other imports hail from Jordan (2), Morocco (2) and Algeria (1). Abla Bensenouci (22) is a midfielder and full international and is in her first season playing outside of Algeria.

Al Ahli FC starters line up for a Saudi Arabian Women's Premier League match in 2023-24. Photo courtesy of Saudi Arabia Football Federation.

Ibtissam Jraidi (30) of Morocco scored a goal in the 2023 WWC against South Korea (1-0)—the first Saudi Arabia-based player to score in the WWC Finals—and joined Al Ahli from ASFAR; last month Jraidi was nominated for the 2023 African Player of the Year by CAF. She plays with fellow Moroccan international Rania Salmi (25), who moved from SC Casablanca this year.

Al Shabab has two imports from Jordan and one import each from Nigeria, Tunisa, the Netherlands and Venezuela. Forward Corina Luijks (28) is a full international for the Dutch side in futsal and has played for a number of clubs across Europe, including at home, in Belgium, France, Italy and Turkey. Veteran Nigerian international attacker Rita Chikwelu, (see more in: The Week in Women's Football: Are you ready for this? Mega-bucks Saudi Pro League planned for 2025 - Tribal Football) is a new signing for the Saudi side, as is Venezuelan international forward Oriana Altuve (31), who was previously one of the leading scorers in Spain's Liga F with Rayo Vallecano, scoring 23 goals in 46 games in two seasons (2018-19 and 2019-20).

Al-Ittihad of Jeddah also has two imports from Jordan, and one each from Sweden, Nigeria, Lebanon, Morocco and England. From England, Leighanne Robe has played 100 games at Liverpool and also spent time with Millwall and Watford and as a youth at Arsenal. Also coming from the WSL is Nor Mustafa (21), who could play for Iraq as her family is from Kurdistan, and has played at home in Sweden for Eskilstuna and then with West Ham United in the WSL, Le Havre in France and Hibernian in Scotland; she is a Swedish youth international. Also from the WSL is English-born and raised Ashleigh Plumptre, arguably the league's highest profile recent signing and who should be the start of many future imports from the WSL/Championship; she was stellar this summer for Nigeria in defense (see more in The Week in Women's Football: Are you ready for this? Mega-bucks Saudi Pro League planned for 2025 - Tribal Football).

Lili Iskander (21) is a Lebanese international who won a league title at home with SAS in 2019-20, scoring 20 goals. She moved to HB Koge for the 2021-22 season and won another league title. Then she played last season with Etihad of Jordan, who won the 2022-23 title and she led the league in goals with 14 goals in 12 games. Salma Amani (32) was capped by France at the U-17 level and then by Morocco at the senior level in 2012. She played for a number of clubs in France, including over 100 games for Guingamp and scored six goals last season in 21 games with Metz. She was with Morocco's historic inaugural WWC side this past summer in Australia/New Zealand. Al-Ittihad does have American representation with their head coach Kelly Lindsey, who played in the WUSA and was Rookie of the Year in 2001 when her Bay Area (San Jose) CyberRays—the original American professional women's league—won the league title and has coached Afghanistan's WNT, Morocco's WNT and Lewes FC in England.

Al-Riyadh has three imports from Spain, including Miriam Dieguez (37), who played internationally for Spain and spent the last four seasons at home with Alvaes. She also played over 135 games with Barcelona. Other imports come from Brazil, Colombia, Egypt and Tunisia. Rafa Travalao (Rafaela) is 35 and was a late-injury replacement for Brazil at the 2015 WWC. She played for the now-defunct Boston Breakers in the NWSL in 2015, in Austria and in the United Arab Emirates in 2019. She won a Brazilian national title in Ferroviaria in 2014. Soulayma Jebrani (26) is a Tunisian international goalkeeper who has played in Tunisia and Turkey and last season played in Saudi Arabia with Al Ahli before switching to Al-Riyadh for this season.

Al Hilal, who finished second last season to derby rival and champions Al-Nassr, has three imports from Ghana, and one each from Cameroon, Egypt, Iraq and Panama. Shokhan Salihi, an Iraqi international in futsal, is back after leading the Saudi Arabia Premier League last year with 45 goals in 17 games. This season she is tied for third in the league scoring race with 4 goals. Al Hilal extended her contract this summer through 2026. Lineth Cedeno (22) played with Panama in the WWC Finals this summer and has played the last two seasons with Sampdoria and Verona in Italy after a year with Alhama CF in Spain's second tier. She scored against France this summer in Australia. Elizabeth Addo (30) of Ghana has played in Australia, China Cyprus, Hungary, Serbia, Sweden, Turkey the U.S. (in the NWSL) and is in her second season at Al Hilal. She played in two U-17 and two U-20 WWC Finals for Ghana.

Al Nassar had two imports from Tunisia and one each from Algeria, Brazil, France, Jordan, Palestine and Tanzania. From Palestine, Ettaf Al-Sawi (20) played for her country when Palestine tied Saudi Arabia earlier this year in two friendlies in May in Riyadh (0-0) and (1-1). Clara Luvanga (18) is a Tanzanian youth international forward who leads the league in scoring thus far this season with six goals, and clubmate Tunisian international Lina Boussaha, also of Al Nassr, is tied for second with five goals; her fellow countrywoman Enekia Kasonga of Eastern Flames is tied for third on four goals with last season's Golden Boot winner Shokhan Salihi of Al Hilal and Salma Amani of Al Ittihad and Morocco.

Boussaha (24) was born and raised in France and played for PSG at the academy level, for France at the U-16, U-17, U-19 and U-20 levels before deciding to play for Algeria and winning her first caps in September of this year. She signed with Al Nassar last December and scored two goals in four matches for the ultimate title-winners. Aminata Diallo (28) is from France and is trying to revive her once promising career at France's women's national team and Paris St. Germain after the scandal of an alleged attack in late 2021 on her teammate with both sides—Kheira Hamroui—which she has denied repeatedly orchestrating, and moved from Levante after only playing 3 games and had 1 goal in 4 games on loan to Utah Royals in 2020 (see: The Week in Women's Football: Real Madrid land Linda Caicedo; Aminata Diallo joins Levante; Matildas WC sellout - Tribal Football).

Imports in Saudi Arabia's Women's Premier League for 2023-24

2023-24 Season

• Jordan 7
• Ghana 5
• Colombia 4
• Tunisia 4
• Brazil 3
• Morocco 3
• Egypt 2
• Algeria 1
• Iraq 1
• Lebanon 1
• France 1

Note: There are no imports this season from Bharain, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Georgia and Uganda, as there were for 2022-23

New imports this season are from:

Nigeria 3

Spain 3

U.S.A. 3

Mexico 2

Tanzania 2

Cameroon 1

England 1

Ivory Coast 1

Netherlands 1

Palestine 1

Panama 1

Pakistan 1

Sweden 1

Venezuela 1

Note: See the list of imports in the Saudi Arabia 2022-23 Women's Premier League in: The Week in Women's Football: Are you ready for this? Mega-bucks Saudi Pro League planned for 2025 - Tribal Football.

In other news around the league, the Saudi Arabia Football Federation signed a deal with Pepsi Co. for their sub-brand Lay's to become the title sponsor for the SWPL, highlighting the commercial value of the league and marking the largest sponsorship of women's sport in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the entire season will be broadcast on TV in Saudi Arabia for the first time, via the Saudi Sports Co.

While the league remains at eight teams again for 2023-24, which will grow to 10 next year, this season sees two new sides in Al-Riyadh and Al-Qadisiyah, replacing relegated Sama and Al-Yamamah.