Riyadh — Sports stadiums in Saudi Arabia will open their doors to women to attend football matches for the first time ever on Friday, the government has announced. “The first match that women will be allowed to watch will be Al-Ahli versus Al-Batin on Friday (Jan. 12),” the Ministry of Culture and Information said in a statement on Monday. It said women will also be able to attend a second match on the following day and a third one on Jan. 18. The first match will be held in Riyadh, the second in Jeddah and the third in the eastern city of Dammam. In October, the General Sports Authority (GSA) issued a decision that as of early 2018 three stadiums, up to now male-only facilities, will be prepared to be ready for families, including allocation of special places for seating and entrances, said the Center for International Communication, an initiative of the Ministry of Culture and Information. The three stadiums are: King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, and Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam. It was one of a series of landmark decisions empowering women in the Kingdom, following King Salman’s historic announcement in September that women would be allowed to drive from June 2018. In September, hundreds of women were allowed to enter a sports stadium in Riyadh, used mostly for football matches, for the first time to mark Saudi Arabia’s National Day. Saudi Arabia also announced in December it was lifting a decades-ban on cinemas with the first movie theaters expected to open in March. — Agencies