Sudan National Team Goalkeeper Prays for Peace

Moatinoon — Agencies
Mohamed Al-Nour arrived in Morocco to guard the goal for his country’s national team, Sudan, at the Africa Cup of Nations, determined to offer solace to his wounded people, who have been living in the terror of a war that has raged for more than two years.

“I pray only for peace, and that everyone living under these conditions survives,” he told France-Press Agency.

Sudan—one of Africa’s oldest national teams—is competing in the tournament while the war between the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces continues, leaving tens of thousands dead, displacing nearly 12 million people, and triggering what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, amid accusations of grave violations by both sides.

When fighting broke out in April 2023, Al-Nour was forced to leave football behind. Recalling that moment, he told AFP: “We lived in terror,” noting that his brother was detained by the Rapid Support Forces for about nine months.

Against this backdrop, the Al-Merrikh goalkeeper hopes his national team can go “as far as possible” in the tournament to “bring joy to the Sudanese people,” who are suffering from the collapse of the healthcare system, devastated infrastructure, and famine in some areas as a result of the war.

Sudan plays its third and final group-stage match today, Wednesday, against Burkina Faso in Casablanca, aiming either to secure second place in Group E or finish third. Sudan, like eight other teams, benefited from results in Groups A and B on Monday, which guaranteed qualification for the round of 16 even before facing Burkina Faso—marking the team’s first knockout-stage appearance since reaching the quarterfinals of the 2012 edition in Gabon, when the tournament featured only 16 teams, eight of which advanced directly to the quarterfinals.

Sudan began its Morocco campaign with a heavy 3–0 defeat to Algeria, playing with ten men after Salah El-Din Al-Hassan was sent off, before reviving its hopes with a 1–0 victory over Equatorial Guinea in their second match in Casablanca.

Sudan previously won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1970 on home soil and is participating for the tenth time, including the inaugural tournament hosted at home in 1957. The team finished runners-up in the 1959 and 1963 editions.

Sudan is taking part in this tournament while its domestic league has been suspended since the outbreak of the war, forcing Al-Merrikh and Al-Hilal to play in the Mauritanian and later the Rwandan leagues.

However, both clubs managed to participate in a mini domestic competition in 2025 to maintain eligibility for continental tournaments, according to the Sudanese Football Association, which also announced the resumption of the local league in January in areas deemed safe.

Ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Sudanese team sought to “make use of every match for preparation and to build cohesion within the group,” explained midfielder Ammar Taifour, who was playing for Al-Merrikh when the war began and now plays for Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien.

He expressed his happiness at the joy Sudanese fans felt after the “Falcons of Jediane” defeated Equatorial Guinea, saying: “It was wonderful,” whether for those who attended the match in Casablanca or those who connected with the players from abroad.

Taifour, who also holds U.S. citizenship, hopes the team’s results will help Sudanese people “forget the war,” even if only for a few moments.

Yet he cannot forget April 15, 2023, when the war erupted. Recalling that day, he said: “We were at a training camp for Al-Merrikh in Khartoum. I remember the surprise and shock caused by the first gunshots—it was completely unexpected; no one saw it coming.”

He added: “In the days that followed, power outages began and gunfire continued nonstop. We didn’t know what was happening—it was total chaos.”

The war continues to this day, marked by summary executions, rape, and looting. It has entered a new phase with the Rapid Support Forces’ takeover of the city of El Fasher on October 26, after besieging it for 18 months, with fighting then spreading to the neighboring Kordofan region.