Saudi Woman Arrested for Watching Football Match in Jeddah Stadium

A Saudi woman, who went to watch a football match in a Jeddah stadium disguised as a man, has been arrested.

Women are not permitted to enter football stadiums in Saudi Arabia.

To avoid being recognised, the woman bought her ticket online and dodged the stadium security by wearing "men's clothing", which included a baseball cap and a hoodie to cover her hair, the Saudi daily newspaper Sabq reported.

A video posted on YouTube showed that the woman sat alone in a far-away section of the Al-Jawahara stadium in the city of Jeddah.

Some YouTube users urged the authorities to be lenient with the female football enthusiast. They said that the woman did not do any harm and was sitting alone and enjoying the match. Other users spoke against her. Some said they "hope she is imprisoned for a long time", while one described her as a "jewel in the stands".

In the match that she attended, visiting Riyadh-based Al-Shabab beat Jeddah's Al-Etihad 1-0, said Aati Al Qarshi - spokesperson for the police in the Makkah Region.

The spokesperson said that while the match was in progress, a police official noticed the woman in the stadium and she is not expected to have seen the match till the end.

However, Qarshi did not state whether she faces any charges, but informed Sabq that details of this particular case had already been "forwarded to the appropriate authorities", The Independent reports.

The woman will be questioned by the police for not abiding by the rule - ban on women attending matches.

Qarshi further emphasized that people must remember "the need for compliance with the regulations and instructions issued by the authorities with regard to this matter".

The rules are so strict that even foreign women needed to take prior permission to watch the matches in which their home teams are playing, Gulf News reports.

A high-profile Riyadh-based campaign is already working to urge the Saudi Kingdom to lift its ban on female driving.