Somalia football slowly becomes a women’s gamePlayers of the U17 Somalia national team take part in a practice session at the Eng. The Ilays women’s team ultimately crushed their opponents Nasiib 5-0, but that did not dampen the mood. The women’s football championship was created in 2024, and initially involved only 80 players. “No one could have imagined that one day Somali women would play football in their country, where even men were forbidden to play by fighters who had declared football ‘un-Islamic’,” said Ali Abdi Mohamed, president of the Somali Football Federation. Its women’s team, which played its first friendly match in October in Djibouti, is not listed by the international federation.

Source: Bangkok Post March 26, 2026 12:56 UTC