Wives of players say they were harassed after Super Cup game in Saudi Arabia
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Saudi Arabia’s record on women’s rights will be front and centre of scrutiny in the buildup to the 2034 World Cup. The wives of two Mallorca players say they were harassed by local fans after a Spanish Super Cup game played in Saudi Arabia that ended in a victory for Real Madrid.
![[The King Abdullah sports city stadium stands in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/13/14/Climate_FIFA_World_Cup_Saudi_Arabia_77027.jpg)
Cristina Palavra, wife of Mallorca midfielder Dani Rodríguez, told a Spanish television reporter that she and the spouse of goalkeeper Dominik Greif were targeted by a group of men upon leaving the King Adbullah Sports City stadium on Thursday. Saudi Arabia’s record on women’s rights will be front and centre of scrutiny by many countries in the buildup to the 2034 World Cup that FIFA awarded the country last month.
“The exit was a bit complicated. We left with our kids and we had no security. The truth is that some men from this country started taking photos of us from close up and were harassing us," Palavra told Esports IB3. "The same thing happened to Natali, the wife of Dominik Greif. I was with my daughter, who was asleep. We felt uncomfortable. We didn’t have anyone to protect us. The exit was very bad.”.
Natalia Kaluzova, Greif’s wife, told Spanish sports daily Marca in English that the men “made videos of us and pushed us and they groped us, shoved phones in our face and filmed us.”. Club officials for Mallorca said that some 250 people were harassed as they exited the venue.
Other Mallorca fans and Spanish media who made the trip to Jeddah related the same details as Palavra and Kaluzova. Marca reproduced a video shot by a mobile phone which appeared to show several men wearing Real Madrid jerseys taking videos and laughing as the group of Mallorca fans walked past to board chartered buses.
