Isabel Osório, the Portuguese woman leading the charge in... Saudi Arabia

Adventure Destination is the column where A BOLA introduces players scattered across the most remote corners of the world.

Isabel Osório is a coach and technical coordinator for football at one of Al-Ula's Saudi academies.

— How is the club's youth development structured?

— Al-Ula has two academies: one in Medina and another in the club's hometown, Al-Ula. I'm coordinating in Al-Ula. Currently, we don't have women's football here yet, as it's a slightly smaller town. Although Saudi Arabia is trying to open up to the world, progress here in the club's hometown is slower. We've already held some events to engage the female community, and they've been quite successful, but it's different from Medina, where we already have women's football: from U-13 to the senior team.

— How did the opportunity to go to Saudi Arabia arise?

— It came through Coach João Carlos Pereira. He approached me about leaving Portugal, and I thought, 'Why not?' Financially, the offer was incomparable to what I'd find in Portugal. Honestly, I never thought about leaving my country to be a coach; I always believed I could develop my career in Portugal. I can, to some extent... but I can't make a living from it. Considering all the conditions, not just financial, but everything the club offers me, I felt it was the right time to take the plunge.

— Did you go there alone?

— In Al-Ula, I'm alone; I'm the only Portuguese and even the only foreigner at the academy. But in Medina, there are many foreign coaches: Portuguese, Spanish... Here, indeed, I'm alone, and my role, besides continuing the work the club has been developing in Al-Ula, is to provide training to the coaches, all of whom are Saudi. So, I face some battles as a woman. It was also something the club specifically wanted: a woman to come here, coupled with their desire to have girls playing football.

— So, it was an unusual proposal then...

— I don't want to generalize, because I don't know all of Saudi Arabia, but our club operates differently. At the academy in Medina, girls train at the same times as boys and play against them, unlike many places in the country where, when there are girls' training sessions, all men must leave. Considering all that, I found it to be a truly enticing challenge.

— Have you had any unpleasant experiences?

— Unpleasant, no. In fact, everything is different. I believe that because I'm different from the women here and dress differently from the people, whether women or men, despite always wearing the club's kit, people know me. They already know there's a woman working at the academy here in Al-Ula. But everything is different; there's truly no comparison to Portugal or the reality I've experienced in other European countries. Still, I've never been made to feel uncomfortable. I think I have an advantage over other women who aren't in football, which is the fact that I've always worked with men. So, being the only woman in the room doesn't bother me.

— And you're still in charge of men, aren't you?

— I don't like the word 'in charge,' but it's more about me being a bridge for them to evolve. In 2034, the World Cup will be here, and I believe Al-Ula will be part of the project, especially since they want to build another academy equal to or better than the one we have in Medina, and I'm here to help them. I usually tell them I have patience because I'm used to being a woman among them; there's no problem at all. Still, there are some cultural issues, like the fact that they don't speak to women, except for family members: wife, daughters, sisters, mother... When I arrived in Saudi Arabia, I spent almost two weeks in Medina to see how the academy worked, and what many Saudis, even children — boys, in this case — would do to me: I'd be between two colleagues, and they would greet the coach to my right and the coach to my left, and say nothing to me. To me, this is rude, but for them, it's the opposite. That is, they don't speak to women.

— Did that bother you?

— At first, it confused me because often I'd be left hanging. I'd say hello and get no response. Then I got used to it because I understood it's cultural. When I arrived in Al-Ula, I obviously came with the academy director, Coach João Carlos, and he shared with the coaches the club CEO's intention to choose a woman. Nowadays, everyone looks at me and talks to me.

— And are they allowed to?

— They can, but often, it's a matter of getting used to it. They're accustomed to not speaking... I walk down the street, and there are very few women, and the ones I see, I only see their eyes. In Medina, for example, at our academy, the director of women's football is a spectacular person; she's one of the most important women in Saudi Arabia, the first woman to hold the AFC A — equivalent to the UEFA A in Europe. She's a woman who has done a lot for the development of girls' and women's football in Saudi Arabia. In Medina, we already see women just with an abaya or just a headscarf, but not in Al-Ula. In fact, most of the women I encounter, perhaps 98%, I only see their eyes. Which is a bit complicated for me because I can't get to know them. Now I only work with men, although we intend to bring women's football to the city. For now, they only train inside schools, which have walls. We will try, step by step, to make it possible for them to go outside.

— Girls can't be seen by men?

— They can; at the academy in Medina, there's more openness, and anyone can go watch their football games. My strategy with men is: I only greet them if they extend their hand to me. Otherwise, I just say hello, and they don't touch me. There are some cultural issues I have to understand and adjust to, like with the younger kids, who look at me differently because they see a woman with different hair, uncovered, and find it strange at first. But then they come to greet me. As for the older ones, it starts to be different. I insist: I always say hello, even if I'm left hanging. With time, they eventually greet me, a bit shyly, but they do.

— Is it all a matter of getting used to it?

— It's like their concept of heat, where at 43 degrees Celsius (ºC), it's still fine. They only consider it hot when it reaches 50 ºC. For me, 43 ºC is already unbearable to be outside. Their concept of things is different from ours, and that's why I think Portuguese coaches are capable of adapting to the entire environment. That's my role: to adapt, understand the context, and try to help them as much as possible within what they can not only understand but also learn.