Background The
Sudan Football Association, which was founded in 1946, and became FIFA affiliated in 1948, was one of the founding members of the
Confederation of African Football (CAF), and continues to be a member of the Confederation. 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. As part of this informal league, a first national women's team called The Challenge was created in 2006 in
Khartoum. 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. In response to a question from FIFA regarding the feasibility of creating a women's national team in 2012, the Islamic Fiqh Council issued another fatwa against the creation of a women's soccer team, deeming it an immoral act. 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.
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. 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. 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. == In popular media ==