Ashleigh Plumptre on leaving Leicester for Saudi Arabia: “I deeply hurt people”

When an approach arrived from Al-Ittihad in 2023, Ashleigh Plumptre’s first thought was to refuse. Her contract with childhood club Leicester City was ending and she wanted a fresh project — somewhere she would feel valued as a person as well as a player.

She took time to weigh it up. A conversation with the coach, a two-day visit to Jeddah and advice from her father and agent, Tim, persuaded her to accept. Plumptre became one of the first stars to move directly from the Women’s Super League to the Saudi Women’s Premier League, a competition launched as fully professional in 2022.

“I was shocked. My initial reaction was ‘no’, but I wanted to give them a chance,” she told BBC Sport. “I had an hour-long call with the coach and two people in the management staff, and I said to Dad, ‘I have a really good feeling about this’.”

Plumptre, now 27, points to the project rather than money. Her representatives would not discuss her salary. Reporting at the time suggested the league is heavily funded and overseas players can earn between $60,000 and $120,000 tax-free, while the average WSL salary was previously reported by the BBC at about £47,000.

The move was contentious. Plumptre had been a visible figure at Leicester, close to the club’s LGBT supporters. Many in the women’s game see themselves as a welcoming space; elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, same-sex relations remain illegal. The presence of Saudi money across football has attracted criticism, one stark example being a letter signed by more than 100 professional female players calling on FIFA to drop its partnership with oil company Aramco over alleged rights abuses.

“Especially when I moved out here, the reaction was not good at all,” Plumptre said. “When I made this move there were people around Leicester – I remember some comments I received – it was like I was not the person they thought I was. I had deeply hurt them because they feel like I am representing something which makes them not feel valued, and I understand that. I don’t really know what to say.”

She does not try to dismiss that hurt. “It does not mean I condone certain things, even if the move means I am associated with certain things,” she added, acknowledging the cost of her decision.

Life in Jeddah is structured around compounds — gated communities that offer a more Western lifestyle with gyms, pools and restaurants. Many foreign players and expats say they feel safer there than in some UK cities. Plumptre gives a simple example: she has left her car running with the doors unlocked while she took shopping into her compound, something she says she would never do back home.

“I know international players, members of my family and friends who have come out here who genuinely feel safer here and calmer than in the UK,” she said. “I’ll give an example. I had been to the supermarket and I had all these bags… In the UK I would never leave my car out with the keys in. Here I have no problem.”

That view sits beside broader realities. Saudi Arabia has changed in recent years — women have been allowed to drive since 2018, and from 2019 those over 21 could apply for a passport without male permission. Yet the guardianship system remains culturally significant, and rights groups say reforms are not always implemented in practice.

“I don’t feel threatened at all here,” Plumptre said. “Men are encouraged to treat women a certain way, and there are consequences if they do not. Every woman can say there is a level of fear within them if they were to be out walking at night whether in the Saudi or in the UK, but there are levels of fear, and there are lower levels in Saudi based on the way men behave.”

On the pitch, the SWPL is growing but imperfect. Big-name signings have arrived — Asisat Oshoala at Al-Hilal, and France internationals Kheira Hamraoui and Amel Majri among them — and clubs offer perks like flights to away games across a vast country. Yet disparities are obvious: between experienced internationals and homegrown players, between men’s and women’s facilities, and in crowd numbers.

“It’s not something I will ever hide away from – the standard is not what I’m used to in the WSL or at international level, and I worried how that would impact myself and my development,” Plumptre said. “One of my club and international team-mates, Francisca Ordega, said in Saudi we must do more. The pace is not as fast, so you must think in different ways, and push yourselves beyond boundaries that you didn’t before.”

She says facilities at Al-Ittihad have improved since women’s teams arrived in 2023. The squad now have their own locker room, access to medical care and ice baths, and they train on the main field, usually in the evening when temperatures drop. Still, the men’s teams often get the newest facilities.

Attendance is a pressing concern. Most SWPL stadiums hold fewer than 15,000 and many games attract only a handful of fans. Plumptre credits the WSL’s growth to community work — school tickets, family initiatives, outreach — and says similar programmes are needed in Saudi Arabia to build a fan base.

Broadcast arrangements mean games are available across the Middle East on the Saudi Sports Company network and Shahid, while DAZN holds rights in Europe. The presence of foreign players and TV deals has sparked talk about Saudi Arabia hosting major tournaments. Plumptre is cautious.

“In the near future I would say ‘no’ (to Saudi hosting a Women’s World Cup), because everything takes time,” she said. “I really care about helping these Saudi players develop and I don’t want things to happen too soon. I believe in the process, taking measurable and decisive steps – make it long-lasting. It is not about trying to rush something. If you put the Saudi team on a stage they are not ready for, it is unfair for them and women’s football.”

Plumptre switched international allegiance early in her career, moving from England youth setups to represent Nigeria, the country of her paternal grandfather. That choice, like the move to Saudi Arabia, was guided by instinct and the search for meaning beyond the pitch.

She wants to change some Western assumptions about Saudi Arabia. She also accepts the moral and reputational trade-offs that followed her move. Two years after signing for Al-Ittihad she has committed to the project, and says she will work to help the league and its players improve, even as she grapples with the relationships she strained when she left Leicester.