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Kuwait Times
24-07-2025
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
War-torn Sudan's football premier league returns to cheers
Sudanese teams forced to compete abroad come back home for downsized competition BERBER, Sudan: In the Sudanese town of Berber, hundreds of kilometers away from the frontlines of war, a modest stadium seems to shake with the roar of football fans jumping to their feet. 'It's a wonderful feeling, it's indescribable, to see this beautiful return,' football fan Ahmed Taj told AFP from the sidelines of the penultimate league match between newly-crowned champions Al-Hilal and Hay Al-Wadi. 'We're so happy to see Al-Hilal come back, to see Sudanese football come back, after everything we've lost in the past two years,' he added. Since April 2023, war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed tens of thousands and made Sudan the scene of one of the world's largest hunger and displacement crises. But for a few hours each week in July, the country seemed to pause during match time, a welcome respite for a population buffeted between mass displacement, starvation and death. The first Sudan Elite League in two years was held in River Nile state, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) northeast of the war-ravaged capital Khartoum. In small stadiums in the cities of Atbara, Berber and Al-Damer, teams faced off on pitches streaked with massive brown patches as dozens of fans cheered from the bleachers. Al-Hilal player shoots the ball during the match against Hay Al-Wadi SC. Despite Atbara's power stations and army bases coming under drone strikes — most recently last month — the area is still considered safer than Khartoum. The season reached its climax on Tuesday as the country's favorite teams — rivals Al-Hilal and Al-Merrikh — met in a title-deciding match-up. Al-Hilal claimed victory and finished top of the table, with second-placed Al-Merrikh also qualifying for the African Champions League. Homecoming For Al-Hilal's celebrated captain and national team striker Mohamed Abdel Rahman, playing on Sudanese soil, even if not on his home turf in the capital, was thrilling. 'We're so happy to be home, playing in front of our fans,' he told AFP on the pitch before kick-off in the crucial encounter with Hay Al-Wadi last Wednesday. Both Al-Hilal and Al-Merrikh had been forced to compete abroad, participating in the Mauritanian league last season. Al-Hilal reached the quarter-finals of this year's African Champions League, cheered on from afar by street celebrations back home. 'We're giving our all to make our fans happy, to offer some joy,' the forward added. But not everyone can go home. All but one of this year's eight competing teams — down from the usual 24 — are based in cities under army control. Hay Al-Wadi hail from the South Darfur state capital Nyala, under paramilitary control and regularly targeted by military air strikes. Sudan's vast western Darfur region has witnessed some of the war's worst violence, with entire displacement camps besieged, bombed and burned to the ground. For captain Jibril Mohamed Nour, the league has been bittersweet. 'I can't even believe it ... it's an indescribable feeling to play again,' the Darfur native told AFP before taking on Al-Hilal. 'But we miss our fans, we miss our hometown, we can only hope we'll be able to go back soon.' Since the war began, his team has trained in Saudi Arabia, only returning weeks before the championship kicked off. High hopes Even with some of the players out of practice and facilities hardly top-tier, Sudanese football is on the rise, according to the league's only foreign coach, the Egyptian Shawky Gharib who helms Al-Merrikh. 'The fans are here, the players are here ... as long as we can play and there's a system in place, the infrastructure, everything can be fixed,' he told AFP. For his part, Sudan Football Association board member Mohamed Abdel Samee beams with pride that the association 'insisted on holding the championship'. 'As soon as it wraps, we're planning next season, when we hope every team will be able to play in their hometown.' Yet there is no end in sight to the war, and even in army-controlled areas millions suffer hunger and lack of services. — AFP
TimesLIVE
09-07-2025
- Sport
- TimesLIVE
Soccer returns to war-torn Sudan as elite clubs go back home
League football has returned to war-torn Sudan for the first time in more than two years with a one-month competition being organised for eight clubs to determine the country's champions. Sudan has been in the grip of conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, with more than 150,000 people killed and about 12 million uprooted, creating the largest displacement crisis in the world. Among them have been the country's biggest clubs Al Hilal and Al Merrikh, who between them have won all but four of the championships since the league was created in 1965. Last season the pair were invited to play in the league in Mauritania, on the other side of the continent, where they could remain active and moved their club structures to the West African country, where Al Hilal emerged as champions. But they are both back in Sudan to take part in a tournament to decide which clubs will compete in continental club competition for the 2025/26 season. Al Hilal were quarterfinalists in this year's African Champions League despite having to host their home games on neutral territory.
Ya Biladi
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Ya Biladi
Jawad Ziyat returns as Raja Casablanca president after election victory
Jawad Ziyat has been elected president of Raja Casablanca following the club's ordinary and extraordinary general assembly held Monday evening in Casablanca. He was elected to a four-year term, defeating fellow candidates Abdellah Birouaine and Said Hasbane. Ziyat previously served as president of the Greens from September 2018 to December 2020, a period during which the club won the CAF Confederation Cup, the African Super Cup, and the Moroccan league title. Raja Casablanca ended last season without any silverware, finishing fifth in the Botola Pro D1 and exiting the African Champions League at the group stage.
Asharq Al-Awsat
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Football Returns to War-torn Sudan as Elite Clubs Go Back Home
League football has returned to war-torn Sudan for the first time in more than two years with a one-month competition being organized for eight clubs to determine the country's champions. Sudan has been in the grip of conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, with more than 150,000 people killed and about 12 million uprooted, creating the largest displacement crisis in the world. Among them have been the country's biggest clubs Al Hilal and Al Merrikh, who between them have won all but four of the championships since the league was created in 1965, according to Reuters. Last season, the pair were invited to play in the league in Mauritania, on the other side of the continent, where they could remain active and moved their club structures to the West African country, where Al Hilal emerged as champions. But they are both back in Sudan to take part in a tournament to decide which clubs will compete in continental club competition for the 2025/26 season. Al Hilal were quarter-finalists in this year's African Champions League despite having to host their home games on neutral territory. They were also weekend winners against Al Merghani Kassala in the first round of the Sudanese Elite Championship, which is being played at Ad-Damer, some 430km from the capital Khartoum, which has been badly damaged by the civil war. Matches in the tournament are also being hosted in Atbara, which is 320km north of Khartoum. There will be seven rounds of fixtures, and Al Merrikh also got off to a winning start over the weekend by beating Ahly Madani 1-0. Their derby against Al Hilal is set for the last day of competition on 22 July. The other clubs competing are Zamalek, Umm Rawaba, Al Amal Atbara, Hay Al Wadi Nyala and Merrikh Al Abyad, who will all each play each other once. Sudan's national team, who will compete in the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco at the end of the year and are also chasing a first-ever World Cup appearance next year, have not played a home match since March 2023.
The Star
07-07-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Soccer-Football returns to war-torn Sudan as elite clubs go back home
(Reuters) -League football has returned to war-torn Sudan for the first time in more than two years with a one-month competition being organised for eight clubs to determine the country's champions. Sudan has been in the grip of conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, with more than 150,000 people killed and about 12 million uprooted, creating the largest displacement crisis in the world. Among them have been the country's biggest clubs Al Hilal and Al Merrikh, who between them have won all but four of the championships since the league was created in 1965. Last season, the pair were invited to play in the league in Mauritania, on the other side of the continent, where they could remain active and moved their club structures to the West African country, where Al Hilal emerged as champions. But they are both back in Sudan to take part in a tournament to decide which clubs will compete in continental club competition for the 2025/26 season. Al Hilal were quarter-finalists in this year's African Champions League despite having to host their home games on neutral territory. They were also weekend winners against Al Merghani Kassala in the first round of the Sudanese Elite Championship, which is being played at Ad-Damer, some 430km from the capital Khartoum, which has been badly damaged by the civil war. Matches in the tournament are also being hosted in Atbara, which is 320km north of Khartoum. There will be seven rounds of fixtures, and Al Merrikh also got off to a winning start over the weekend by beating Ahly Madani 1-0. Their derby against Al Hilal is set for the last day of competition on 22 July. The other clubs competing are Zamalek, Umm Rawaba, Al Amal Atbara, Hay Al Wadi Nyala and Merrikh Al Abyad, who will all each play each other once. Sudan's national team, who will compete in the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco at the end of the year and are also chasing a first-ever World Cup appearance next year, have not played a home match since March 2023. (Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)
