GAME CHANGER: Sudanese Woman Defies Cultural Stereotypes To Become Coach Of Menโs Football Team
![GAME CHANGER: Sudanese Woman Defies Cultural Stereotypes To Become Coach Of Men's Football Team 1 GAME CHANGER: Sudanese Woman Defies Cultural Stereotypes To Become Coach Of Men's Football Team- Salma El Majidi](https://cdn.africanvibes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/09074119/salma.jpeg)
Salma El Majidi is the first Arab and Sudanese woman to coach a menโs football team in the Arab world.
Named in the BBCโs 2015 list of โ100 inspirational womenโ, Majidi has coached the Sudanese second league menโs clubs of Al-Nasr, Al-Nahda, Nile Halfa and Al-Mourada.ย Nile Halfa and Al-Nahda even topped local leagues under her coaching. She currently holds the African โBโ badge in coaching. It means she can coach any first league team across the continent.
โI became a coach because there is still no scope for womenโs football in Sudan.โ El Majidi told an AFP reporter in eastern Sudanโs El Gedaref where she trains players of the El Ahly El Gedaref club.
Womenโs football has faced an uphill task since the country adopted Islamic sharia law in 1983. There is no legal ban on womenโs football in Sudan. But a conservative society coupled with the Islamist leanings of the government has left it in the shadows. Women do play football. But there are no competitions or womenโs clubs. And they do not play much in public.
โThere are restrictions on womenโs football, but Iโm determined to succeed,โ Majidi, whose dream is to coach an international team, said, as her players kicked up clouds of dust practicing free kicks.
Salma El Majidiย โ Culture Shock
โThere was this one boy who refused to listen. He told me he belongs to a tribe that believed men should never take orders from women,โ she said.
It took months before he finally accepted her as a coach. โToday, he is a fine player,โ said Salma El Majidi, who works full-time and receives a salary that is equivalent to that of a male coach.ย
![GAME CHANGER: Sudanese Woman Defies Cultural Stereotypes To Become Coach Of Men's Football Team 2 GAME CHANGER: Sudanese Woman Defies Cultural Stereotypes To Become Coach Of Men's Football Team-Salma El Majidi](https://africanvibes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SSS41223.jpg)
Salma El Majidi said her entrance to what was a male preserve is just a start.