In the Sudanese town of Berber, hundreds of kilometers away from the frontlines of war, a modest stadium seems to shake with the roar of football fans jumping to their feet.
“It’s a wonderful feeling, it’s indescribable, to see this beautiful return,” football fan Ahmed Taj told AFP from the sidelines of the penultimate league match between newly-crowned champions Al-Hilal and Hay Al-Wadi.
“We’re so happy to see Al-Hilal come back, to see Sudanese football come back, after everything we’ve lost in the past two years,” he added.
Since April 2023, war between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed tens of thousands and made Sudan the scene of the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.
But for a few hours each week in July, the country seemed to pause during match time, a welcome respite for a population buffeted between mass displacement, starvation and death.
The first Sudan Elite League in two years was held in River Nile state, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) northeast of the war-ravaged capital Khartoum.
In small stadiums in the cities of Atbara, Berber and Al-Damer, teams faced off on pitches streaked with massive brown patches as dozens of fans cheered from the bleachers.
