section_path: Culture/Sport
section_name: Sport
paragraph_text: Sport
  
  Football is the national sport in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabia national football team is considered one of Asia's most successful national teams, having reached a joint record six AFC Asian Cup finals, winning three of those finals (1984, 1988, and 1996) and having qualified for the World Cup four consecutive times ever since debuting at the 1994 tournament. In the 1994 FIFA World Cup under the leadership of Jorge Solari, Saudi Arabia beat both Belgium and Morocco in the group stage before falling to defeat Sweden in the round of 16. During the 1992 FIFA Confederations Cup, which was played in Saudi Arabia, the country reached the final, losing 1–3 to Argentina.
  
  Scuba diving, windsurfing, sailing and basketball (which is played by both men and women) are also popular with the Saudi Arabian national basketball team winning bronze at the 1999 Asian Championship. More traditional sports such as horse racing and camel racing are also popular. The annual King's Camel Race, begun in 1974, is one of the sport's most important contests and attracts animals and riders from throughout the region. Falconry is another traditional pursuit.
  
  Women's sport is controversial because of the suppression of female participation in sport by conservative Islamic religious authorities, however the restrictions have eased. Until 2018 women were not permitted in sport stadiums. Segregated seating, allowing women to enter, has been developed in three stadiums across major cities. Since 2020, the progress of women's integration into the Saudi sport scene began to develop rapidly. 25 Saudi sport federations established a national women's team, including a national football and basketball team. In November 2020, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation announced the launch of the first nationwide Saudi women's premier league.
  
  In its vision for modernization the nation has introduced many international sporting events, bringing sports stars to the kingdom. However, in August 2019, the kingdom's strategy received criticism for appearing as a method of sportswashing soon after Saudi's US-based 2018 lobbying campaign foreign registration documentations got published online. The documents showed Saudi Arabia as allegedly implementing a sportswashing strategy, including meetings and official calls with authorities of associations like Major League Soccer, World Wrestling Entertainment, and the National Basketball Association.