Sudan women's national football team

Background

The Sudan Football Association, which was founded in 1946, and became FIFA affiliated in 1948,^[5] was one of the founding members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and continues to be a member of the Confederation.^[6]

According to a 2011 study of the relationship between religious fundamentalism and globalized societies, the fact that some Sudanese women already had started playing football since the early 2000s despite social and legal restrictions was considered a critical step for the development of an unofficial women's league.^[7] As part of this informal league, a first national women's team called The Challenge was created in 2006 in Khartoum.^[8] In 2006, The Challenge played its first competitive match. It was captained by Sara Edward and played against a team from Sudan University that wore clothes corresponding to Islamic norms. As reported, the quality of play was not high and the game ended in a 2–0 win for The Challenge team.^[9][10]

In response to a question from FIFA regarding the feasibility of creating a women's national team in 2012,^[11] the Islamic Fiqh Council issued another fatwa against the creation of a women's soccer team, deeming it an immoral act.^[12] The fatwa claimed that football was a men's sport and women should not participate in it, because it challenges the differences between men and women.^[13]

Recognition

Following the establishment of a women's league in 2019 with 21 teams from different cities under the new transitional government, the Sudan Football Association recognized and started to support women's local and national teams.^[4] At the start of 2021, Sudan's women's national team continued to lack FIFA recognition.^[5][14] By August of that year, however, it had been recognized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and was invited to participate in the 2021 Arab Women's Cup.^[15]

Since its official recognition in 2019, Sudan joined other countries in the Arab and African regions to have a women's league. Due to its membership in the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA), the national team's first international competition was in 2021, when they played in the Arab Women's Cup.^[16][17]

The 2019 award-winning documentary Khartoum Offside by Sudanese filmmaker Marwa Zein tells the story of the women who made up The Challenge team under the Islamist government of the time.^[18][19]

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Source: Goalzz.com

Legend

  Win  Draw  Lose  Fixture

2023

Angola  v  Sudan

September 2023 (2023-09) 2024 AFWCON qualification First round 1st leg

Angola

Cancelled

Sudan

Sudan  v  Angola

September 2023 (2023-09) 2024 AFWCON qualification First round 2nd leg

Sudan

Cancelled

Angola

Current coaching staff

As of 1 February 2022

Position	Name	Ref.
Head coach	Imed Houjly	[20]
Assistant coach	Salma Majdi
Goalkeeping coach	Khaled Darwich
Physical coach	Soujoud Hafedh

Manager history

As of 9 August 2021

• Faroug Jabra (2021–2022)
• Imed Houjly (2022–present)

Current squad

The following players were called up for the friendly match against South Sudan in February 2022.^{[21][needs update]}

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Amina Omar Liwaa			0	Al Hilal Dalang
	1GK	Houda Ali			0
	2DF	Raghda Bader Idin			0
	2DF	Asmaa Abkar Abdallah			0	Al-Difaa
	2DF	Rania Babker Babo Amer	(1996-10-28) 28 October 1996 (age 27)		0	Al-Tahadi
	2DF	Najlaa Saleh	(1988-11-10) 10 November 1988 (age 35)		0	Al-Tahadi
	2DF	Samia Kassam Hussein	(1995-12-11) 11 December 1995 (age 28)		0	Al-Tahadi
	3MF	Nidal Fadlallah	(1987-11-10) 10 November 1987 (age 36)		0	Al-Tahadi
	3MF	Fatima Kidal (captain)			0	Al-Difaa
	3MF	Bkhaite Elias			0	Al-Difaa
	3MF	Hala Zakaria Mostafi	(1990-07-31) 31 July 1990 (age 33)		0	Al-Tahadi
	4FW	Rayan Ibrahim Ahmed Ragab	(1993-01-01) 1 January 1993 (age 31)		1	Al-Tahadi
	4FW	Rawan Samir			0
	4FW	Faten Zaher			0	Alkournuk
		Noura Mouhamed			0
		Islem Imad			0
		Ilmhem Baltoun			0
		Fatma Abed Kader			0
		Orjuan Essam

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the squad in the past 12 months.

*Active players in bold, statistics correct as of 26 August 2021.

FIFA Women's World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup record
Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1991 to 2015	did not exist
2019	did not enter
2023	Withdrew
Total	0/2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1996 to 2020	did not exist
2024
Total	0/7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Africa Women Cup of Nations

Africa Women Cup of Nations record
Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1991 to 2014	did not exist
2016 to 2018	did not enter
2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
2022	Withdrew
2024	W/D
Total	0/2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

African Games

African Games record
Year	Result	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA	GD
2003 to 2019	did not exist
2023	to be determined
Total	0/4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

CECAFA Women's Championship

CECAFA Women's Championship
Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1986 to 2019	did not exist
2021	Cancelled
2022	did not enter
Total	0/5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Arab Women's Cup

Arab Women's Cup record
Appearances: 2
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2006	did not exist
2021	Group stage	6th	3	0	0	3	2	27	−25
Total	Groupe stage	1/2	3	0	0	2	27	−25

The list shown below shows the Sudan national football team all−time international record against opposing nations.
*As of 22 February 2022 after match against South Sudan.

Key

Against	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Confederation
Algeria	2	0	0	2	0	17	−17	CAF
South Sudan	2	0	0	2	0	9	−9	CAF
Tunisia	1	0	0	1	1	12	−11	CAF
Egypt	1	0	0	1	0	10	−10	CAF
Lebanon	1	0	0	1	1	5	−4	AFC

• Sport in Sudan
  • Football in Sudan
    • Women's football in Sudan
• Sudan women's national under-20 football team
• Sudan women's national under-17 football team
• Sudan men's national football team
• Women's association football

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Association football in Sudan.

• Sudan's fearless female footballers – short video by Deutsche Welle