RIYADH: Al-Nassr defeated Sama 18-0 in the first ever Saudi Women’s Premier League fixture, which took place at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium’s reserve pitch in Riyadh on Thursday night.
The historic match kicked off the first round of fixtures in the eight-club competition’s inaugural season, with three more games set to take place on Friday and Saturday. The Premier League is organized by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.
A clearly superior Al-Nassr team dominated from the off and went into the break with a comprehensive 10-0 lead.
Not surprisingly, they maintained control in the second half to run out 18-0 winners against their gallant but overwhelmed opponents.
Four of Al-Nassr’s goals came from Hessa Al-Eisa, with hat tricks from captain Munira Al-Hamdan, Mubarka Al-Saiari and Ghada Hamadi, a brace from Ghadir Abdulwahid and one each from Samia Al-Awni, Aseel Ahmad and Yasmine Tabila.
Friday will see two fixtures, with Al-Yamamah facing Eastern Flames at the reserve pitch of Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, and Al-Shabab taking on Al-Hilal at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.
The final match of the opening round will pitch Al-Ittihad against Al-Ahly on Saturday at King Abdullah Sports City.
The revamp of the women’s football pyramid in the Kingdom means that alongside the eight-team Premier League, what ran last year as the SAFF Regional Football League will now be known as the First Division and will include 17 teams.
The SAFF has set aside total prize money of almost $370,000 for the competition, with the winners walking way with $133,000. Second place will receive about $80,000 and third $53,000.
The clubs finishing in fourth to eighth positions will receive prizes ranging from $27,000 to $16,000.
