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"We have neither the facilities nor the equipment we need," said Salim, the son of a farmer, before throwing a ball on a dirt plot in the neighborhood of Khartoum.
"I need shoes, equipment and adequate training, but there is nothing."
At sunset, friendly football matches take place on open areas of land in the capital. Teenagers like Salim raise clouds of dust.
The pitches do not have markings, are full of holes and the goal posts are almost always without a net.
"There is no one to motivate me," said Salim, a resident of Tuti Island, where Blue Nile and White Nile meet in the capital.
"I hope the revolution will change that," he said, citing the mbad protest movement that lasted several months and led to the ousting of long-time president Omar al -Bashir, in April.
Many say that Bashir's three decades of reigning in the fist have dismissed sport – a national pastime.
There are no competitive youth leagues in Sudan, which means that young players like Salim can only participate in friendly matches between local clubs.
Their skills are still tight because of poorly maintained terrain, which causes regular injuries that often end the career of many talented players before they even take off.
The matches are "disorganized" and the players have no type of training or direction, said the vice president of the Sudanese Football Federation, Al-Fatih Bani.
Local clubs avoid upgrading facilities because there are no competitive leagues for youth, he said.
Although there are about 30 well-maintained land in the country, they belong to private owners and are open only to the elite, Bani added.
Bad record
Sudan has never qualified for the World Cup, even though the country was a pioneer of sport on the continent.
With Egypt and Ethiopia, he helped found the African Football Confederation, but won the African Cup of Nations only once in 1970 when he hosted the tournament.
The last time Sudan has qualified for the biennial tournament of the continent, it was in 2012, even though it was extended to 24 nations.
In 1989, Omdurman-based Al-Merrikh became the only Sudanese team to win an African club trophy.
Sudanese football fans often wear jerseys from international clubs instead of their national team, which is the result of his bad record caused by decades of official negligence, according to Bani.
"Many talented players do not have the opportunity to progress and progress," said Monzer Hbadan, coach of a youth team.
"The total absence of football academies prevents these talented players from perfecting their skills," he said, adding that all players dreamed of playing for the two main Sudanese clubs, Al-Hilal and al-Merrikh.
A Sudanese player has never been picked up by a European club, said Bani, but the country is a lucrative destination for foreign players, as Sudanese clubs are thirsty for professionals.
"The Bashir regime has suffered tremendously from the sport," said Mohamed Harun, a member of the Al – Hilal board of directors.
"His Islamic regime regarded football as a tribal activity that deserved neither support nor investment."
For those like Salim or Bani, the revolution that chased Bashir could herald a turnaround.
"I hope the revolution will give a strong boost to football in Sudan," said Bani.
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