Somalia football slowly becomes a women's game

Hundreds of Somali spectators cheered as they watched two teams of young women play football in a Mogadishu stadium -- an unimaginable scene in the conservative, conflict-hit country just a few years ago.

Such events were heavily threatened until recently in Somalia's capital by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group Al-Shabaab, which frowns on entertainment like football, especially when played by women.

But while Al-Shabaab still has a powerful grip behind the scenes in Mogadishu, the security situation has markedly improved.

At Tuesday's match, the main stand was mostly segregated but nonetheless included some men and women sitting together.

The Ilays women's team ultimately crushed their opponents Nasiib 5-0, but that did not dampen the mood.

"If you were in Mogadishu a couple of years ago, an occasion like this, with two girls' football clubs playing, would not have been possible... but with time, things are improving," said Ali Muhidin, one of the spectators.

The women's football championship was created in 2024, and initially involved only 80 players. But barely two years later, 600 are participating across 10 teams -- mostly from Mogadishu, but also other parts of the country.

"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.

"But something we couldn't even dream of has become a reality," he told AFP.

Not everyone in the largely conservative Muslim country allows their daughters to play, he conceded, but they have faced no serious complaints.

Somalis have long been passionate fans of European football, but local teams have been neglected. Somalia is currently ranked 200th in the FIFA men's rankings, ahead of only a handful of microstates.

Its women's team, which played its first friendly match in October in Djibouti, is not listed by the international federation.

But this should change soon, as the "Ocean Queens" are preparing for their first-ever international tournament -- an under-17s event in May in Tanzania.

"For women to play football is not shameful or taboo," said Ramas Abdi Salah, midfielder for the Ocean Queens, who, like her teammates, wears thick tights and a long-sleeved shirt under her sports kit, as well as a black headscarf to cover her hair.

"As you can see, I'm fully covered except for my face and my hands. I haven't received any bad comments," said the 17-year-old, who added she has her family's approval.

Goalkeeper Najma Ali Ahmed had a rough game on Tuesday, letting in five goals.

But it will take a lot more than that to lose the love of the game.

"I'm sending a message to female footballers to work toward the dream of joining the national team," she said.