Sudanese women footballers tackle hurdles to play the game

KHARTOUM – Sudan’s women’s football team is yet to win a match, but members say they have scored a victory by overcoming challenges including discrimination and a coup to play the game.

“The girls are still taking their very first steps in international football,” said coach Salma al-Majidi, training the team that was formed just last year.

A few years ago, the prospect of a Sudanese women’s national team was inconceivable, given the strict policing of social mores under the hardline Islamist regime of deposed autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

But within months of his ouster in 2019, and on the back of mass protests against his…