What life is REALLY like for a WAG in Saudi Arabia: Footballers' wives lift the lid on living in the conservative country - from covering up to speaking Arabic, and not being able to find houses small enough

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Sun-baked, opulent, but perhaps a bit sterile - life for footballers and their loved ones in Saudi Arabia brings heady highs and lonely lows. 

Football clubs in the conservative Middle Eastern nation fork out eye-watering sums to attract the sport's biggest names - £164million per season in the case of Cristiano Ronaldo - but that doesn't make life simple for their families. 

Their wives have to contend with a culture which expects them to cover up in the sweltering heat, accept segregation in gyms, and escape to Bahrain or the UAE if they want a tipple. 

Taylor Ward, who married former Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez in January 2022 (in the first of three ceremonies!), is one of those. One day she was living in England. Then a sudden phone call from her husband, announcing that he was joining Jeddah-based Al-Ahli, changed her life - and caused the tears to flow. 

'I just burst into tears. I was honestly inconsolable,' she tells The Times. 'Being married to a footballer, we’re so privileged. It’s an amazing life, don’t get me wrong. But there are parts that are hard as well, like moving abroad and being away from your family.'

Ward is a star of the Amazon series Married to the Game, which affords viewers a deep dive into the lives of footballers' wives and girlfriends, warts and all. She is one of many partners who have had to adapt to life in the Middle East. 

Taylor Ward and Riyad Mahrez are living a luxury life in Saudi Arabia, but there are challenges

Cristiano Ronaldo's fiancee Georgina Rodriguez feels a sense of peace exploring the country 

Roberto Firmino and Larissa Pereira hang out in the desert, the main landscape of Saudi 

While the clique of wives and girlfriends in Saudi has steadily grown, it's nothing like the posse in Cheshire or London. But the band of waymakers does include Cristiano Ronaldo's fiancee Georgina Rodriguez, Fabinho's wife Rebeca Tavares, and Roberto Firmino's spouse Larissa Pereira. Alex Curran was sort of part of that number when her husband Steven Gerrard managed Al-Ettifaq, though they lived over the border in Bahrain.    

Mahrez and Ward live in an eight-bedroom house with their daughter Mila, two, and his girls Ayla and Inaya from his first marriage to Rita Johal. Yes, eight bedrooms - that's the sort of residence a salary to the tune of £750,000 can get you. 

It's a luxurious abode decked out with cream carpets and sofas, multiple walk-in wardrobes, a bar and entertainment zone and an expansive kitchen. It can also come across a bit austere. 

Ward has been working hard on the interior design and sharing her progress on a dedicated account for it with 50,000 Instagram followers. Her mother, Real Housewives of Cheshire star Dawn Ward, offers a helping hand.

'It was harder in Saudi Arabia finding a house small enough for us,' she told the Times. 'They’ve got sixteen-bedroom houses. I was, like, "This is ridiculous."

Ward jokes that they have around three friends, compared to a 'big friendship group' in Manchester. Mahrez's Al-Ahli only includes a handful of former Premier League stars and their families: Firmino, Ivan Toney,  and Edouard Mendy. 

Rather than embrace the nation, Alex Curran went as far as shunning Saudi for a freer lifestyle across the border in Bahrain. She lived a 'dream life' in a six-bedroom £10,000-per-month mansion with royal neighbours in a Manama, the capital city of a nation where restrictions on clothing and activities were less severe. 

They had free membership of the country’s two most exclusive health clubs, based at the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel and the Ritz Carlton Hotel, and hung out at the Bahrain Rugby Club, an exclusive expat hangout. The Moda Mall at the World Trade Centre in Bahrain offered an array of designer stores, salons, and spas. 

Ward and Mahrez with their daughter Mila along with Riyad's two older children from a previous marriage at their second wedding ceremony in 2023

Fabinho and his wife Rebeca Tavares enjoy taking their family to the beach to learn to swim

Rodriguez has been able to continue and expand her modelling career in Saudi Arabia 

An alcohol ban in Saudi Arabia sees the families often escape to neighbouring countires - Ward calls the UAE's Dubai, above, her 'happy place' 

Ward and her family go to the cinema and bowling regularly, and have taken circus trips, while she watches from a VIP seat in Jeddah’s Alinma Stadium. At the weekend, they were special guests of Red Bull Racing at the Saudi Arabian F1 Grand Prix. 

Others fill their time differently. Fabinho and his wife Rebeca Tavares go quad biking in the desert, hang out at the beach in Jeddah, and cross into Dubai to visit the zoo.

Larisa Pereira, wife of Roberto Firmino and a co-founder of an evangelical church in Brazil, enjoys the peace of her Bible studies and theology books. Like a lot of the other footballing families, they have multiple kids to entertain, so recently visited a Barbie exhibit to burn off some steam. 

Georgina Rodriguez loves exploring Saudi Arabis's desert landscapes. A visit to AlUla, an ancient Arabian oasis city, left her stunned. She has also been able to expand the horizons of her modelling career, and taken to the culture so much that she has got an Arabic tattoo. 

'We were afraid to talk…[we didn’t want] to ruin the moment. The silence— you don’t find it anywhere else,' she said. 'AlUla is one of the most extraordinary places I’ve ever been. It absorbs your energy and gives it back, renewed.'

They had to stay in a hotel for a month after Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr, and it took some adjustment. 'At first I experienced some ups and downs because we had never lived in a hotel for so long. There were days I didn't want anyone to see me, but overall I was excited,' said Rodriguez. But she has warmed to the land, a feeling echoed by Ward. 

Ward claimed that they get so many visitors from back home that there can almost be a 'hundred' of them milling around the house, suddenly making the need for eight bedrooms more obvious. 

'I actually love Saudi now,' Ward said on Married to the Game. 'I have people coming out to visit me all the time. My friends fly out from the UK, and my mum and dad live in Dubai, so they come over and that’s really nice.

Ward, 27, recently told MailOnline that she wants to dress more conservatively in the future - in line with the nation and Mahrez's Islamic background

Steven Gerrard and wife Alex Curran enjoyed a meal out at a Greek restaurant in Saudi Arabia, but lived over the border in Bahrain where they could be freer

Ward now says she 'loves' life in Saudi Arabia and has enough visitors, though the base of permanent friends there is seemingly small and there is a language barrier 

Fabinho and Rebeca have taken advantage of the high-end food establishments on offer

Escaping to the desert is something which brings Georgina Rodriguez contentment 

'It's nice to be in the sun, the people here are so lovely, and I've got my bearings a lot more now. I've got the kids in nursery, I found a really nice gym, just little things that make day to day life a lot nicer and easier.'

The language is a big barrier. Ward has learned some Arabic, but struggles to find the right ingredients in the food store and once drove up the motorway (women have been allowed since 2018)... on the wrong side. 

A report by Mail Online published in 2024 alleged that wives married to players plying their trade in the Gulf State's top division had suffered public abuse, and been refused entry into shops and restaurants because of how they are dressed.

'It can be lonely,' Ward told Married to the Game. 'I've had to move away from all my family and live on the other side of the world, in a country that's completely different culturally.'

Over in Bahrain, where Gerrard's family lived, one expat revealed why the nation appeals. 

Daniel McRae, a Liverpool fan, said: ‘Gerrard comes here (the Bahrain Rugby Club bar) quite a lot. He likes a beer, he likes to socialise and have a chat about football, and you won’t get that in Saudi Arabia.

‘And it’s easier for women to live here, which is why his wife probably wanted to be here. You can go around in shorts or a vest and nobody will bother you, so that makes Bahrain more attractive.’

But a major benefit of their new life is the safety. Numbeo ranked Saudi Arabia as the 14th-safest country to live in this year. The United Kingdom came 87th. 

Ward and Mahrez share a sprawling eight-bedroom mansion in Jeddah, where he plays

Ward shares lots of snaps from their opulent Saudi mansion (image: a walk-in shoe wardrobe)

'I can actually sleep at night now,' Ward told the Sun. 'We’ve been burgled in the past and it puts you off having nice things. 

'My house in Saudi is ten times bigger than my house in England, and if I had to stay on my own somewhere, I would choose Saudi every day of the week.

'There’s so many burglaries and bad things going on especially in Cheshire. It’s a massive problem.'

'I used to say to Riyad, "Please don’t buy me a watch for my birthday, I don’t want to be a target." Now that we live in Saudi, you actually get the opportunity to enjoy and wear nice things.'

Ronaldo, Georgina, and their family did not feel the same. Earlier this month, they reportedly hired a new chief bodyguard and sacked previous members of his security team amid concerns over their safety in Saudi Arabia. 

The couple have reportedly managed to live a relatively quiet and peaceful life since Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr in 2023, enjoying walks and outings with their children in Riyadh.

But distressing messages sent to the Portuguese icon and Georgina on social media have reportedly left the family on edge, prompting Ronaldo to take action.