The role(s) of social media for women’s football stakeholders in Saudi Arabia

This study explores the role(s) of social media for women’s football operational stakeholders in Saudi Arabia. With the increasing presence of women’s football in the Saudi public sphere since 2020, social media has provided a platform to share the successes of female players and relevant stakeholders in Saudi women’s football. This study aims to explore how stakeholders in women’s football in Saudi Arabia have experienced social media usage in relation to women’s football content. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combine different data sets, incorporating the perspectives of user experience and public opinion. Our findings suggest a dual role for social media as an awareness-raising and recruitment tool, and as a means of shifting perceptions from backlash to support. A connecting element between these two roles is storytelling. When personal narratives are shared, women are seen as role models which might shift perceptions on women’s football and increase the instrumental feature of social media in Muslim societies.