Sudan's under-17 women's national football team returned the country to international women's competition in Casablanca, Morocco, despite a civil war that had brought the domestic game to a halt. The mainly school-age squad entered qualifying matches connected to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after beginning organised training only weeks earlier.

Sudan's federation could not assemble a senior women's side in time and selected the younger team to avoid forfeiting its place. The players faced an older, fitter and more experienced Comoros team that included footballers based in Europe. Sudan lost the first match 17-0 and conceded 30 goals across two games.

Coach Burhan Tia, who oversees Sudan's women's national teams, said the gap between the sides showed that Sudan was not ready to compete at the highest level. On the field, players struggled with positioning, the offside line and tactical organisation, often looking toward their coaches for direction. Team captain Nura Mohamed, 17, nevertheless described the experience as unique and said she wanted to improve football in her country.

Building the squad required Tia to search schools in Sudan and communities in neighbouring Egypt, where many families had fled. He recruited 10 players from Cairo teams and academies, with the rest coming from Sudanese cities. The process involved verifying ages and persuading parents to allow their daughters to miss classes for training. Players from Darfur and Kordofan could not be included because some lacked identity documents and wartime transport links had broken down.

The women's league had stopped after fighting erupted in 2023 between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. More than 40,000 people had been killed and over 14 million displaced, while famine and disease spread. Manal Ali Bushra, head of the women's football committee, said some players travelled long distances to train and others were separated from their families. She said the federation was pursuing a sports city and stadium renovations in safer areas, but did not disclose the women's program budget.

Women's organised football in Sudan was established only after the 2019 revolution removed Omar al-Bashir. His government had enforced Public Order Laws that rights groups said sharply constrained women's freedom. The new team also encountered sexist abuse online after its heavy defeats.

The military government allowed the teenagers to travel internationally, a decision interpreted differently by observers. Political scientist Liv Tønnessen viewed the support as an attempt to project state legitimacy, while women's-rights activist Hala Al-Karib said the central problem was inadequate federation reform and investment. Whatever the political arguments, the matches restored a Sudanese women's team to an international field after years of conflict.