In South Sudan, women’s football is starting to make a name for itself

The enthusiasm for the development of women’s football in the world’s youngest country is now palpable. Having gained independence in 2011, South Sudan was devastated by a civil war from 2013 to 2018, and despite a peace agreement, tensions continue. For young South Sudanese women, playing football is a way of writing another history of their country.

On the green pitch of the Juba National Stadium, the Bright Starlets are used to training in the scorching heat. The South Sudanese women’s national football team now plays in this completely renovated stadium, which was inaugurated in June 2024 by President Salva Kiir and Gianni Infantino, FIFA President. It was indeed FIFA that financed the work.

Showing the world that South Sudan’s women’s team exists

Victor Lawrence Lual, the secretary general of the South Sudan Football Association, touts the progress made in developing women’s football in the country. With nine women’s teams playing in the capital and more than 20 in the provinces, talented players have emerged and joined the national team. “We want to show the world that South Sudan’s women’s team exists,” says Victor Lawrence Lual.

In 2019, the South Sudan Football Association launched the first national women’s league, a major step towards professionalizing the sport. In 2021, the national team participated in its first international competition, the CECAFA Women’s Tournament, marking a milestone in its development and also entering the Fifa rankings.

Watching the women’s national team train for the AFCON qualifiers is a source of joy for Helen Terso, who is in charge of women’s football development at the national association. Because at 70 years old, she knew a time, the 1960s, when playing football, for a South Sudanese girl, was simply forbidden. “I played for almost five years, I trained with the boys,” confides Helen Terso. That’s why my brothers said: “you behave like a man, but you are not a man, you are a woman. So, you must not play football” .

While her brothers got the better of her passion and forced her to stop playing football, she notes a change in mentalities in South Sudan. “If it were today, I could have continued to play, she regrets. Traditional norms are no longer as strict. Because some parents understand the positive role of football. In our country, we say that football is conducive to peace. And if you want peace, you have to involve men and women. “

Getting Rid of War Stress

During the first leg on Wednesday, February 19, Bright Starlets fans crowded into the only shaded stand to cheer on their team. And Pita Tabitha, 24, a former player, was not shy about her pleasure despite the defeat. “I am really happy as a South Sudanese to see my colleagues playing football. And I like to see the Algerian women play, because they are well trained! They are strong! They play like men! I am very proud of the Algerian women!” The young supporter had to flee and take refuge in Uganda when the civil war broke out in South Sudan in 2013. “All young people in South Sudan should play football, or basketball, to get rid of the stress of war,” she argues.

In South Sudan, a family now has the power to give you wings. Bright Starlets captain Amy Lasu is one of the few professional South Sudanese women’s footballers. She currently plays for a Lithuanian club: “I was lucky to have supportive parents, so I was able to pursue my dream. Coming from a country where few girls go far in sport, I think I can be a good example.”

Esther Louis, 20, the striker and assistant captain of the women’s national team, who has been playing football since she was a teenager, is campaigning for her sport to change the story of women in South Sudan. “Before, we weren’t allowed to play,” she says. “Now, everywhere you see parents bringing their daughters to academies. All these small girls interested in football, it’s really new.” And now, the National Association is organising mixed team tournaments in schools across the country to encourage girls to participate.

Text and pictures: Florence Miettaux

This story was initally published in French on RFI