Despite being one of founding members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) after it joined FIFA over seven decades ago, Sudan has not encouraged its women to play the sport due to its social taboos and laws that prohibit them from participating in outdoor sports.
Even so, one woman has defied all odds and followed her passion to become the first FIFA-recognised Arab woman to coach men’s football in Sudan.
Salma al-Majidi fell in love with football after seeing her brothers play as teenagers. At 16, she decided she was more interested in the coach and his role than becoming a player.
“At the end of every training session, I discussed with [the coach] the techniques he used to coach the boys,” al-Majidi told AFP last year.
“He saw I had a knack for coaching… and gave me a chance to work with him.”
She began coaching the under-13 and under-16 teams of a regional club, before moving onto work alongside retired national player Ahmed Yakini, whom she eventually married, and who now works as al-Majidi’s assistant coach.
She defied the fatwa against women in public sports, going on to coach the Sudanese second division men’s clubs, including Al-Nasr, Al-Nahda, Nile Halfa and Al-Mourada.
In a recent Aljazeera documentary, the 32-year old shared her story of resilience and passion, opening up about the challenges she has had to overcome.
“By the time I knew I was Selma I also knew football,” she said, adding that her passion for football “increases with age.”
“At the beginning, the players were uneasy with a woman on the field, but I tried to prove to them I am not a woman, I am a coach.”
Batting away criticism he said he often receives for “working under a woman”, al-Majidi’s husband Ahmed Yakini said “It is irrelevant that she is a woman. At the end of the day, I am working.”
In 2015, al-Majidi was included in the BBC Arabic’s 100 inspirational women of the year — a recognition she hopes will change things for women in her country.
“Sudan is a community of tribes and some tribes believe that a woman’s role is confined only to her home,” she said.
“There was this one boy who refused to listen. He told me he belongs to a tribe that believed men should never take orders from women.”
al-Majidi said her coaching has changed his attitudes towards her. “Today, he is a fine player.”
“I have to face insults but it doesn’t get to me because I know the mentality of the fans and what I aim to accomplish.”
al-Majidi admits that her country is far from women getting their full rights. “No matter how hard you work they see you as just a woman,” she said. “I can say that I’ve almost made it in the context of Sudan.”
Last month, she and her husband were forced to flee their home country for Egypt due to the escalating violence brought on by the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which began in April.
You can watch the documentary on al-Majidi in full here.