War-torn Sudan’s World Cup dream; Spurs’ Vicario blow; why Italian clubs want Scots

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Hello. Sudan has been ravaged by war and yet, remarkably, its national team is breaking new ground.

On the way:


‘Worst humanitarian crisis’: Sudan’s team succeeding even as civil war brings death toll of 150,000 


(Getty Images/Adam Leventhal/Save The Children; design: Eamonn Dalton)

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gave the world an understanding of how military conflicts displace football. Ukraine qualified for Euro 2024 via a home play-off staged in Poland because no stadium within their own borders could have safely hosted the tie.

A similar scenario is playing out in Sudan without the same weight of global attention. It is not an exaggeration to say the ongoing fighting there is an invisible war, to all except those who find it at their front door. The eyes of the globe are on Ukraine, as well as the conflict involving Israel. Less heed is paid to Sudan — or what the United Nations calls “the worst humanitarian crisis on earth”.

War in the African nation has been raging since April of last year, with an estimated 150,000 people killed and 14 million forced to flee their homes. Under these circumstances, football would expect to take a back seat or grind to a halt, but incredibly, Sudan’s players have picked this moment to strive for history. Somehow, the national team is in the rudest of health.

Next year, they will appear at the Africa Cup of Nations after making the tournament for only the 10th time in the best part of a century. They are on course for the 2026 World Cup, a competition Sudan have never reached before. War might be ravaging the country, but Sudanese football has not given up.

Bodies on the streets

It was precisely because so little coverage is given to the trouble in Sudan that The Athletic’s Adam Leventhal travelled there and to the surrounding parts of north-east Africa to write about the catastrophe.

The quotes of the people he encountered are sobering. Mazin Abusin, the head of development at Sudan’s Football Association, remembers the first sound of gunshots in the capital, Khartoum, 15 months ago. “We used to say: if you’re lucky, you walk out with your passport, your phone and your life,” Abusin told Adam. He saw bodies in the street and dogs eating them.

Football pitches in Khartoum have been commandeered as graveyards. There is no feasible way Sudan’s FIFA-sanctioned matches could take place in their homeland. Fixtures have been staged in South Sudan (a separate country), Saudi Arabia and, most recently, Libya. There are shades of Ukraine decamping to other European cities to keep the sport in motion.

“Sudan is the motherland,” said captain Ramadan Agab. “Trying to make the nation happy is an emotion I cannot express.” He and his team-mates are doing what they can to make Sudan smile.

Could they reach the World Cup?

Sudan’s squad will not ring many bells. None of the current crop of internationals play club football in Europe and their qualification for the 2026 World Cup is far from assured — but the chance of it happening is real.

Sudan are top of their qualifying group and unbeaten after four games. A huge meeting with second-placed Senegal looms in March. Countries reach World Cups by various means — as hosts, without breaking sweat, by the skin of their teeth — and Sudan’s path to 2026 would be like very few others. There is much that matters more than football, but football has a way of surviving most things.

🎙️ Adam produced a podcast to go with his Sudan article, which you can download free of charge here. It’s an outstanding piece of audio work.


News round-up


Show Viz

Strip out the smoke and mirrors around Mohamed Salah and the only logical conclusion is that his contract impasse with Liverpool is an age thing. Were Salah 22 rather than 32, or even 28, the club would be busting their gut to drown him in banknotes.

That’s not to say Liverpool don’t have a wage structure or that money is no object at Anfield, but it’s hard not to think they are worried about spending big on Salah, only to find he goes over the hill and handicaps them by becoming a diminished high earner. It happens, it’s a judgement call and Salah isn’t getting younger.

But Andy Jones and Mark Carey have tried to look at this objectively, which I think is important. The multitude of graphs in their piece paint Salah as the attacking monster he is, but I was struck by the data (above) showing that his minutes per Premier League game for Liverpool are at their highest level to date this season — the polar opposite of a body creaking with age.

Combine that with 10 goals and six assists and Liverpool face a quandary. Because while choosing not to renew Salah’s deal might have theoretical justification, explaining the decision would be fraught with difficulty. It’s that old issue in football: optics.

🎙️ Salah’s future is the subject of The Athletic FC podcast. Suffice to say, ‘sign him up’ was the prevailing view.


Hot Scots: Why moves to Italy are on the rise


(Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)

I watched Aaron Hickey at Heart of Midlothian and I remember being slightly baffled when the club announced he was leaving to join… Bologna. No slight on Hickey (he’s a talented full-back) and no slight on Bologna (they’re on the rise in Serie A), Scotland to Italy just wasn’t a well-trodden transfer path.

That’s partly because Scottish football has the same reputation as the Scottish diet: dreadful, unless you’re a native like me and you love it for what it is. But here’s the thing: Italian clubs have spotted an opportunity beyond Hadrian’s Wall because the market in Scotland (like deep-fried pizza) is nice and cheap.

Hickey cost Bologna around £1.5m ($1.9m) in 2020. Two years later, Brentford bought him for a club-record £17m ($21m), making Bologna a tidy profit. Liam Henderson, once of Celtic, is now at Empoli. Josh Doig left Hibernian for Hellas Verona and then Sassuolo, and Lewis Ferguson followed Hickey to Bologna from Aberdeen. It’s officially a trend.

Until recently, Italian clubs didn’t think to scout in Scotland. The country’s reputation for, er, technical limitations went before it. Speaking to The Athletic, Henderson recalled an air of surprise when he first arrived in Italy and showed people he could play. “They were expecting this Scottish boy to come and smash folk,” he said. It turned out they were missing a trick.


Around The Athletic FC


Catch a match

(Selected games)

UEFA Champions League (all Paramount+/TNT Sports unless stated): Sparta Prague vs Atletico Madrid, 12.45pm/5.45pm; Barcelona vs Brest, 3pm/8pm; Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint-Germain, 3pm /8pm; Inter Milan vs RB Leipzig, 3pm/8pm; Manchester City vs Feyenoord, 3pm/8pm — Paramount+, Fubo/ Amazon Prime; Sporting Lisbon v Arsenal, 3pm/8pm.

Championship: Sunderland vs West Bromwich Albion, 3pm/8pm — Paramount+/Sky Sports.


And finally…


(Getty Images; design: Kelsea Peterson)

Those certainties in life — death, taxes and business people finding a new niche in sport. The latest fad: stylists advising athletes on what to wear when they land at games and training sessions. We’ve called them ‘arrival fits’ (my dad would call them ‘clothes’).

I was poised to roll my eyes, but on reflection, let’s go with it. Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate in a Deadpool-worthy balaclava, or the NBA’s Kyle Kuzma in a pink jumper you could fit four people into — what’s not to like? And why be dull?

(Top photo: Mudathir Hameed/picture alliance via Getty Images)

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