Something interesting might happen tonight in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is going to play an international football match against Sweden, which pressured Saudis to allow women to attend the match. Sweden is going to play with their reserve team, as most of their stars refused to join the team for this match. However, according to FIFA website, the news that both Swedish and Saudi women would be blocked from attending the game did not go down well. “[I]t is important that Sweden very clearly speaks out when women are discriminated against. This is a good occasion,” Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds said.

The Swedish embassy in Riyadh say that Saudis told them Prince Faisal Stadium in Mallaz, where the match will be played, is open for everyone, including Saudi women. I really suspect this. I wish I was in Riyadh to attend the match and see how are they going to handle this. I’m afraid that Saudis told Swedish embassy such thing because they are sure no Saudi woman would dare to show up at the stadium. And for the foreign women, if there were any, they will seat them at the area dedicated for journalists and media people. However, I’d like to see some Saudi women in the audience at the match tonight.