On Friday, the Saudi Women’s Premier League team Eastern Flames FC announced that they had signed Pakistan’s women’s team leader Maria Khan. Maria, 31 years old, is the first Pakistani woman to play football for a Saudi team. She was named captain of the Pakistan women’s team last year for their comeback event, the SAFF Women’s Championship. Also, the team has made a lot of progress under her leadership. The Saudi club, Eastern Flames in Dammam, says they have signed Maria for this season to help improve their first women’s team.
Maria Khan was signed by the Saudi club Eastern Flames
The club said on the Twitter site X, “Maria Khan joins the ranks of Eastern Flames FC.” The team’s squad also has people from Colombia, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. In the first season of the Saudi Premier League, the club could only win two of the 14 games they played. Also, Maria has played for WAPDA in Pakistan in the past.
The midfielder caught everyone’s attention earlier this year. She scored an amazing goal on a free kick to tie the game against the hosts Saudi Arabia in a four-nation event. Before Maria, Hajra Khan was the first Pakistani woman to play football for a club outside Pakistan. In 2014, she joined the SHR Football Club of Maldives.
“The Club’s management contracted with the first foreign professional to support the ranks of the women’s first team in the women’s premier league this season,” the Arabic text of the post said.
Reacting to her signing, Maria hoped playing with an international club would open more opportunities for Pakistani talent.
“I hope this starts to create opportunities for Pakistani athletes. Also, the talent that a lot of times goes unnoticed,” Maria told after her signing with Eastern Flames FC.
