Saudi Arabia, a country that has long been plagued by restrictions on women, lifted a decades-old ban on women footballers a few years ago.

It has now developed a strong enough national team to compete in major tournaments.

Saudi Arabia is set to launch its first women’s soccer league on Monday, according to foreign media reports.

Sixteen women’s teams will compete in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. According to local media reports, they expect to even play in a World Cup.

Such sports were forbidden to women in the country due to extremist Muslim views.

There was also world talk of poor human rights record in Saudi Arabia and the imprisonment of women activists.

Due to this, the latest step in the reform movement that emerged some time ago was the establishment of the Saudi Football Federation Women’s Football League.