Sudan

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The Sudan Football Association was founded in 1936, and consequently became one of the earliest football clubs in Africa. Prior to the establishment of the Football Association, Sudan had begun to experience football brought into the country by British colonizers from the beginning of the 20th century through Egypt. There were other Sudanese clubs established at this moment included Al-Hilal Omdurman, Al-Merrikh, which helped to spread the popularity of football within the country. It was the Khartoum League became the first national football league in Sudan and laid the foundation for the future growth of Sudanese football.

Being a football player from the beginning, Sudan was quick to join FIFA in 1948. shortly after, Sudanese officials were instrumental together alongside Ethiopian, South African and Egyptian counterparts, in forming the Confederation of African Football in the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum in the year 1957. After the formation of CAF, Sudan participated in the 1957 African Cup of Nations, the first ever historic Africa Cup of Nations which Sudan hosted. The national team placed third, and South Africa was banned over apartheid.

In the early days, Sudan produced many of the top players, including Mustafa Azhari, the captain of Sudan at the time; Nasr El-Din Abbas, who was the top scorer in Sudan in the national team of football; Siddiq Manzul, who was a key leader in Sudan's forwardteam; Ali Gagarin with his meteoric capability. Sudan was then crowned champions in its first major trophy, in the year 1970. African Cup of Nations, their sole African trophy to now.

After the death of a substantial number of Sudanese footballers in the era Sudan's national football team Sudan was weakened. Sudan was a participant in the two editions in 1972 and 1976 however Sudan was unable to make it past the stage of group play. In the year 1972, Sudan was plagued by the first and second civil wars, which caused football in the country becoming generally unable to keep its status. In addition, Sudan also suffered from several political turmoils that have drained the country's resources in football. Accordingly, Sudan struggled to qualify for the next AFCON as well, and the country is yet to be a part of even a single FIFA World Cup. The only exception is Libya is the only significant Arab nation in Africa which has never managed to achieve this achievement. A lot of times Sudan was a participant in AFCON qualification , and the majority of them ended at the bottom or close to the bottom of their qualifying. This was completely in contrast with their success in club competitions, since Sudanese clubs were all over the CAF Champions League.

On September 9, 2007 Sudan defeated World Cup participant Tunisia 3-2 in a home match, making Sudan the highest-scoring player during the Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group 4. This meant that Sudan had returned to the AFCON after 32 years. At the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, the first time in the last 32 years Sudan found themselves in group C. They were in together with Egypt, Cameroon and Zambia. Sudan was eliminated from all three matches, finishing last within their division.

Sudan was in the last round in 2011 World Cup qualifiers but finished last with just one point, not making it to AFCON and the World Cup.

Sudan (as host) automatically was automatically qualified for Sudan automatically qualified for 2011 African Nations Championship. They were the top team in their group, which included Algeria, Uganda and Gabon before progressing to the knockout stage. After beating Niger by penalty in the quarterfinals of the tournament, they lost to Angola in the semis (also penalty-free) before winning 1-1 against their former teammates Algeria (who also suffered a penalty defeat to lose in the final) and then finish at third place in the Championship the first top 4 finish at the major African tournament since the year 1970.

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, Sudan was once again in the same group as Ghana along with Swaziland along with Swaziland and Congo. Sudan did not lose a single game and made it to the finals of 2012's Africa Cup of Nations, in the B group, Sudan finished second behind Ivory Coast, and overcame Angola with a goal advantage to make it to the knockout phase in the very first time since the year 1970. Sudan faced Zambia in the final eight matches, and was defeated to Zambia 0-3. Zambia was able to take the title for the first time.

In the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, Sudan suffered a huge loss to their neighbor Ethiopia with a goal from the away side and lost 2-0 in Addis Ababa, following an exciting 5-3 victory at home. The result was that they missed out on the tournament. After that, Sudan continued to struggle to qualify to play in the African Cup of Nations for the following seven years. The country also failed to succeed in being able to qualify for their country's participation in the African Nations Championship after their 3rd place finish in 2011 for a time until the year 2018.

In 2018, they qualified for their 2018 African Nations Championship after not being able to do the same in two previous competitions and came in 3rd place which was seen as a signal for the beginning of a new phase in Sudanese football. In the following year and with a nearly identical team of footballers, Sudan succeeded in qualifying for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, being ahead of the mighty South Africa, including two famous victories in the home arena in the final against Ghana in addition to South Africa and eliminated the South Africans in process, and then successfully returned to AFCON in the AFCON after 9 years. The excitement grew when Sudan defeated Libya by a score of 1-0 during the qualifying of 2021's FIFA Arab Cup, under the same direction by French head coach Hubert Velud, making impressions that Sudan could soon return to its deserved place in Arab as well as African soccer nations.

But, Sudan is in the midst of a disastrous beginning in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification. The Sudanese were drawn to other countries like a neighboring Arab state and a major powerhouse Morocco and Guinea-Bissau and Guinea who haven't participated in the World Cup like Sudan, the Sudanese were considered as a bit better than the two Guineas, and could be an eventual rival to Morocco. Sudan began its campaign by losing 0-2 against Morocco. Moroccans in Rabat that was regarded as acceptable. But in the match at home with Guinea-Bissau, Sudan was completely destroyed by the Bissau-Guineans, 2-4 which left the team at the bottom of the table and with less hope of qualifying for the first time in the World Cup. Sudan's hopes were ruined after only scoring two points following two draws in succession over Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, making Sudan one of the teams to lose from the group.

2021

22 AugustFriendly

Sudan

1–2

Niger

Dubai, UAE

26 AugustFriendly

Sudan

3–0

Niger

Dubai, UAE

2 September2022 World Cup qualification

Morocco

2–0

Sudan

Rabat, Morocco

7 September2022 World Cup qualification

Sudan

2–4

Guinea-Bissau

Omdurman, Sudan

6 October2022 World Cup qualification

Sudan

1–1

Guinea

Marrakech, Morocco

9 October2022 World Cup qualification

Guinea

2–2

Sudan

Agadir (Morocco)

12 November2022 World Cup qualification

Sudan

0–3

Morocco

Rabat, Morocco

15 November2022 World Cup qualification

Guinea-Bissau

0–0

Sudan

Marrakesh, Morocco

1 December2021 Arab Cup

Algeria

4–0

Sudan

Al Rayyan, Qatar

4 December2021 Arab Cup

Sudan

0–5

Egypt

Doha, Qatar

7 December2021 Arab Cup

Lebanon

1–0

Sudan

Al Rayyan, Qatar

30 DecemberFriendly

Sudan

2–3

Ethiopia

Limbe

2022

2023

•  Saleh Rajab (1956)
•  Jozsef Hada (1957–1959)
•  Lozan Kotsev (1959-1964)
•  JiÅ™í Starosta (1964-1968)
•  Muhamed Hassan Kheiri (1968–1970)
•  Abdel Fatah Hemed (1970-1974)
•  Ivan Yanko (1974–1976)
•  Ebrahim Kabir (1976–1978)
•  Burkhard Ziese (1978–1980)
•  Muhamed Mazda (1996)
•  Nasreldin Jaksa (1996)
•  Sharafeldin Musa (1998)
•  Muhamed Mahmoud (1999)
•  Fawzi Almardi (2000)
•  Zoran ĐorÄ‘ević (2000)
•  Ahmed Babeker (2000-2002)
•  Wojciech Lazarek (2002–2004)
•  Muhamed Mazda (2005-2008)
•  Stephen Constantine (2009–2010)
•  Ahmed Babeker (2010)
•  Muhamed Mazda (2010–2015)
•  Ahmed Babeker (2015)
•  Hamdan Hemed (2016)
•  Muhamed Mazda (2016)
•  Zdravko Logarušić (2017–2019)
•  Khaled Bakhit (2020)
•  Hubert Velud (2020–2021)
•  Burhan Tia (2021–present)

Caps and goals are correct as of 8 June 2022, after the match against Congo DR.

The following players were called up for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Mauritania and Congo DR on 4 and 8 June 2022.

The following players have been called up for Sudan in the last 12 months.

As of 8 June 2022.

Players in bold are still active with Sudan.

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• Football at the Summer Olympics has been an under-23 tournament since the 1992 edition.

• Prior to the Cairo 1991 campaign, the Football at the All-Africa Games was open to full senior national teams.

• Africa Cup of Nations
  • Champion (1): 1970
  • Runners-up (2): 1959, 1963
  • Third place (1): 1957
• CECAFA Cup
  • Champion (3): 1980, 2006, 2007
  • Runners-up (2): 1990, 2013
  • Third place (3): 1996, 2004, 2011
• Pan Arab Games
  • Runners-up (1): 1965