Women's football gains ground in Somalia, drawing fans after years of fear | OneFootball

Hundreds of fans gather to watch two women’s teams play a match in a stadium in Mogadishu. In Somalia, a conservative and unstable country, women’s football is moving forward little by little.

The scene would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, when the Somali capital lived under the constant threat of attacks by the armed group Al Shabaab, linked to Al Qaeda, which has been fighting the authorities since 2006.

The insurgents, who condemn recreational activities such as football — even more so when played by women — would have turned a match like this into a target.

But in March 2026, the players can dribble and score goals without fear: the situation in Mogadishu has improved greatly and attacks have decreased considerably.

In the main stand, where separation between men and women is not strictly observed, spectators shout and raise their arms at every play.

Ilays’ women’s team defeated Nasiib 5-0.

“In Mogadishu, a few years ago, a match like this between two women’s teams would not have been possible for security reasons,” said Ali Muhidin, one of the spectators.

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A dream come true

Interest in women’s football is now “growing,” he celebrated, also highlighting a social change.

“People are more culturally flexible. There are girls playing football and, year after year, this is becoming normal,” said another fan, Mowlid Hassan.

Women’s football league in Somalia is recent: it was created in 2024 and initially brought together only 80 athletes.

Two years later, there are already 600 players spread across 10 teams, most of them in Mogadishu, but also in other regions of the country.

“No one could have imagined that one day Somali women would play football in their country, where even men had been banned from playing it because the fighters decreed that football was not Islamic,” said Ali Abdi Mohamed, president of the Somali Football Federation.

“But something we could not even dream of has become reality,” he added.

In a society that is still very conservative, “100% of parents do not allow their daughters to play,” the official acknowledged.

In Somalia, European football — especially British football — draws great interest, but some are also starting to follow local clubs, although the road ahead is still long.

The country ranks only 200th in the FIFA men’s rankings, ahead of just a few microstates.

The women’s national team, which played its first match in October, a friendly in Djibouti, still does not appear in the world rankings.

Neither shame nor taboo

That should change soon, since the “Ocean Queens” (the nickname of the Somali women’s national team) will play in their first international tournament, an Under-17 championship in Tanzania, at the end of May.

“For women, playing football is neither a source of shame nor a taboo,” said team midfielder Ramas Abdi Salah, who, like her teammates, plays with her body covered and wearing a veil.

“I am completely covered, except for my face and hands. I have not received any negative comments about it,” said the 17-year-old, who has the support of her family.

Najma Ali Ahmed, the national team’s goalkeeper, encourages her compatriots to pursue “the dream of being part of the national team.”

On Tuesday, however, Najma was not satisfied: she was the one who conceded the five goals in Nasiib’s defeat.

*By AFP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.