Article by Tudor Belivacă – Published on Thursday, 01 January 2026 16:27 / Updated on Thursday, 01 January 2026 16:27
The Africa Cup of Nations is known for extraordinary stories, events and personalities, and the Sudan national team is certainly one of them. In Sudan, since the spring of 2023, a civil war has been going on, considered the most serious conflict in the world at the moment. In the brutal clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an estimated 150,000 people have lost their lives.
Twelve million inhabitants fled their homes, four million of whom fled to neighboring countries. An estimated 26 million Sudanese are facing acute hunger. However, even in such an apocalyptic situation, football did not stop. Sudanese clubs have found refuge in Rwanda, where they participate as guests in the local championship, as is the case with the team coached by Romanian Laurentiu Reghecampf, Al Hilal Omddurman.
The national team, ranked 117th in the FIFA rankings, competes in the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. There, Sudan has achieved something that no other national team has achieved in the history of this competition. It became the first team to qualify for the knockout stages without any of its players scoring a goal in the group stages. Sudan advanced to the round of 16 with three points as one of the best third-placed teams in Group E.
Sudan qualified for the knockout stage of the African Cup of Nations without scoring: they benefited from an own goal that ensured their presence in the last eight
The Sudanese finished the group stage with only one goal scored, and that was an own goal by a player from Equatorial Guinea. The national team from Sudan achieved the only victory thanks to Saul Coco's own goal, for a final score of 1-0. In the other two matches, Sudan was defeated by Algeria, score 0-3 and Burkina Faso, score 0-2, and in the last match they even missed a penalty.
According to the information published by L'Equipe, quoted by sportal.blic.rs, the situation is even more incredible if the Arab Cup and the African Nations Championship (CHAN) are excluded, where the first team did not play. Specifically, Sudan is on a streak of eight matches without a goal scored by their own players.
Moreover, the Sudanese ended the entire year 2025 with only one goal scored, managed by Mohamed Eisa against South Sudan in March, in a match that ended 1-1.
