Sudan's U-17 women's national team players sing the national anthem before a match against Comoros during qualifiers for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. | Photo Credit: AP

Their red jerseys stood out against the green pitch at Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca. Most were teenage girls. Some had fled Sudan’s civil war. Others had never played in an organised league or stepped inside a major stadium.

Yet their appearance marked a milestone. Sudan’s women’s team returned to international football for the first time since civil war erupted in 2023, in a country where women’s participation in sport has long faced resistance.

“My goal is to lift up football in my country,” 17-year-old captain Nura Mohamed told the Associated Press. “It’s a beautiful, unique feeling because, at the end of the day, I just love playing.”

Sudan travelled to Morocco for qualifiers on the road to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics but fielded its Under-17 side after failing to assemble a senior squad. The inexperienced team, which had trained together for only a few weeks, suffered 17-0 and 13-0 defeats against Comoros, conceding 30 goals across two matches.

“The difference between us and the others is huge. We cannot yet compete at the highest level,” said Burhan Tia, who oversees Sudan’s women’s national teams. “Comoros has many players competing in Europe. Our team is mainly made up of schoolgirls.”

For Sudan’s football federation, simply taking the field was a victory. The civil war brought women’s football to a halt after the league, launched following the 2019 revolution that toppled Omar al-Bashir, was suspended.

“Some travelled long distances just to attend training. Many are separated from their families, yet they continue to work hard and pursue their dream,” said Manal Ali Bushra, head of the federation’s women’s football committee.

Rebuilding the team proved daunting. Tia scouted schools across Sudan and refugee communities in Egypt, recruiting 10 players from Cairo-based academies. Many girls in conflict-hit regions lacked identification documents required for international competition, while damaged infrastructure made travel across the country perilous.

The team’s inexperience was evident, with players struggling tactically and frequently looking to the bench for instructions. Off the pitch, they also faced sexist abuse on social media, where critics mocked their defeats and told them to “go back to the kitchen.”

The conflict, triggered by a power struggle between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces, has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced over 14 million, according to the United Nations.

Political scientist Liv Tønnessen said the players were challenging decades of restrictions on women under Bashir’s Islamist rule.

“When women step onto a football pitch, they are directly confronting that entire logic,” she said.

Despite the politics, criticism and war, the young Sudanese players continued to chase the ball, representing hope for a sport and a generation trying to rebuild.

Published on Jun 17, 2026