Football Resumes in Khartoum, Signaling a Return to Life

Despite the scorching heat, walls riddled with shell fragments, and stands covered in dust, Asim Hussein enjoys watching football players enter the field as the Sudanese league resumes in Khartoum after a long suspension caused by the war.

The enthusiastic supporter of the capital’s Al-Merrikh club told Agence France-Presse, “We haven’t seen our team for three years.”

Smiling as he watched the players walk onto the pitch, he added, “It is a historic moment for us. The match confirms that life is beginning to return to Khartoum.”

The opening match was held yesterday, Friday, at Kober Stadium north of Khartoum in the presence of army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, while another match took place at the same time in Omdurman.

Everywhere, the scars of the war that erupted in April 2023 between the army and the Rapid Support Forces are visible. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and caused what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe.

Khartoum, which the army regained in March 2025, has witnessed relative calm despite drone attacks attributed to the Rapid Support Forces that have recurred in recent weeks.

More than 1.8 million displaced people have returned to the capital, but infrastructure remains severely damaged, with limited electricity and water supplies. Large areas of the city center are still deserted amid looted buildings and fears of unexploded ordnance beneath the rubble.

“All That Distance”

Yet none of this diminished the excitement of the crowd, who waved club flags to the rhythm of drums and chants supporting their team.

Hundreds of fans defied temperatures reaching 42 degrees Celsius to attend the reopening, with many forced to stand because the stands were unsafe for use.

Instead of players’ benches, rows of plastic chairs were placed on the field, while burned-out cars from the fighting remained scattered in nearby streets.

Kober Stadium does not usually host top-division matches, but the main stadiums in Khartoum were damaged by strikes and have not yet been rehabilitated.

Musab Abdelmajid traveled nearly 190 kilometers to support his club, (Al-Ahli Madani), which lost 3–1 to the historic Al-Merrikh side. He said, “I traveled all this distance just to see my team play again.”

For his part, club official (Mustafa Al-Amin) praised sport’s ability to ease divisions and deliver a “message of peace.”

Because of the war, Sudan’s two biggest clubs, (Al-Hilal) and (Al-Merrikh), were forced to play their matches outside Sudan, particularly in the Mauritanian and Rwandan leagues. Al-Hilal excelled there, winning the Rwandan league title this week after claiming the Mauritanian league title last season.

As fighting subsided last year, the two clubs managed to participate in an elite competition in River Nile State, which remained relatively distant from the war and lies about 300 kilometers northeast of the capital.

However, this is the first time the national league has been held in three years, with eight teams competing over seven weeks for qualification spots in continental competitions.

Despite the conflict, Sudan reached the Round of 16 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, achieving its best performance since 2012. Sudan had previously won the title in 1970, during a very different era.