Saudi Arabian Football Federation

Reading

Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States

www.abegs.org

The Football Federation in Saudi Arabia was started in 1959 AD. There were six clubs in that first season and the first matches were played on 12 February 1960 AD. Before that, most of the clubs and their players were amateur, not professional. This was the real beginning of football in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Nowadays, there are 153 clubs in the Saudi Federation. The federation consists of four divisions. The first division has 12 clubs, the second has 10, the third has 8 and the fourth has 123. the first division is the top one. The aim of all the clubs in this division is to reach the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques’ Cup. The last Match in the competition and win the trophy. The final match is always played at a stadium decided by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. The biggest crowd for a cup final was seen in 1995 at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. At that match, 80,000 supporters were counted.

Football is an international sport. It has spread all over the world. It is popular so that millions of people go to the matches during the seasons. The top clubs and the top players make a lot of money. This is true all over the world. For example, Pele, the famous Brazilian player, earned almost SR 8,000,000 almost 30 years ago in 1965. But before you decided to become a professional footballer, you had better think hard! The working life of a top footballer is only about ten years!

Q.1 What is the opposite of “professional”?

The opposite of “professional” is “amateur”.

Q.2 How long can a professional footballer work?

A professional footballer can work for ten years only.

Q.3 In what year was the Saudi Football Federation started?

The Saudi Football Federation was started in 1959 AD.

Q.4 What is the Custodian of the Two Mosques’ Cup and where is it played?

This is the name of top football cup played in Saudi Arabia. It is played at a stadium decided by the

“Federation”.

Word Study “A”Choose the correct words:

Professional-weekday- - midweek- exciting

The match was very._________ exciting

Every _________ he goes to school but not on Thursday or Friday.

Ali is a ___________ football player.

There is ________ test in the class today.

Saud play for fun not for money. He is an ________ player.

weekday

professional

midweek

amateur

Word Study “B”Choose the correct words:

Trophy-discussion-crowd- club-aim

We have an English_____ at our school. club

His ____ is to become a top soccer player.

A _____ of people waited to see the king.

Saudi team won the _______ in football competition.We need a long _________ about the lesson.

aim

crowd

trophy

discussion

Word Study “C”Choose the correct words:

changed-spread-consisted of-earned-beat

Ali ______ a lot of money by playing football. earned

Fahd has ________ his car. He has painted it yellow.The last English book __________ six units.

Saudi team _____ the Omani team in final match.

The English language has ______ all over the world.

changed

consisted of

beat

spread