There are a lot of challenges facing football - and especially women’s football - in South Sudan but thanks to high agency people like the multi-talented Soga Grace, we can be optimistic that positive change is coming.
A goalkeeper for Munuki Women FC - South Sudan’s top club - she also runs Diva Sports, South Sudan’s first media platform advocating for and promoting women’s football.
In this interview Soga talks about her journey as a player, the realities of women’s football in South Sudan and her goals with Diva Sports. It’s a powerful reminder of the impact one individual can have on - and off - the field.
The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for grammar and clarity.
[ Background ]
I started playing football not so long ago in 2021 - I was a netballer. When I was in Uganda, I played netball, but when I completed my studies and came to South Sudan, there was no netball here. I’m someone who loves sports, so I had to switch to football! And goalkeeping because it lets me use some of my skills from netball.
Now, I'm in my 4th season at Munuki. We’ve achieved a lot here in Juba. We’ve been champions each year and won the JLFA South Sudan Cup back-to-back and JLFA League back-to-back. So, it’s been a great achievement and a great experience.
Apart from football, I like writing and designing. Here, most of the journalists only focus on men’s football and I felt the gap. So, I created the page Diva Sports to write about women’s football and to my surprise, people are following! There are over 7,000 followers on the page from all over the world.
It's a pleasure to me that at least some people are following. My vision is that, in time, there will be a change in mindset and narrative about women’s football in South Sudan. That's basically my vision with Diva Sports.
"My vision is that, in time, there will be a change in mindset and narrative about women’s football in South Sudan"
[ How did you go from netball to the top team in South Sudan? ]
I have friends here who have been playing football since they were young and are part of the ‘scene’. When I got here, I used to just go and watch them play. Then, they influenced me to start training as a goalkeeper because netball is all about jumping and catching the ball, why shouldn’t I give it a try?
I started training in 2020 and for about a year, I just trained and trained. Then the coach at Munuki gave me the trust and opportunity to be part of his team. And from out of the blue, we’ve made history together and won trophies.
[ How is the women’s league structured? ]
In 2021, there was a national league that was even recognized by FIFA and had teams all around South Sudan. There were 8 teams from different states - Yei, Yambio, Juba, Bentiu, Wau, Torit, Aweil and Kuajok each had a team and the teams used to travel for matches.
But when that league ended, we did not have a second edition because there was a change of leadership at the federation.
Now, the league that we’ve won is just within Juba. We have 7 teams and play home and away, so 12 games. And then the South Sudan Cup is a knockout tournament.
But there are new plans to have a women’s premier league again. Not the same as before - where players moved from state to state - but all the teams will be based here in Juba. Even last year, we had 12 teams from different states that competed in a national league - two from Bentiu and one from Yei but they were all here in Juba and all the games were played here.
[ Is there a second division or lower leagues? ]
No, if you’re participating in the league, you have to be part of one of the teams. Last season, there were 12 teams. There are two teams that are planning to join but I haven’t gotten any information about them registering players, so it might not happen in time for next season but that would increase the number of teams to 14.
Other than that, there are a few academies and teams that play friendlies - including against other teams in the league - but no formal league or second division.
[ Are the clubs connected to men’s clubs or are they completely separate? ]
There was an order from the federation whereby the men’s teams were asked to have women’s teams. So, some of these women’s teams here in Juba got attached to men’s teams - for example, Munuki has a men’s and a women’s team.
There are still some men’s teams that don’t have a women’s team yet but of course, they are being asked to - and it’s part of the requirements especially for those who qualify for the CAF Champions League as well.
[ What does a normal week of training look like for you and your team? ]
We train on ‘normal’ grounds without natural grass, just sand. The training schedules differ from team to team due to financial issues and all that but we train every other day - if we train on Monday, we’ll have Tuesday off and train again on Wednesday.
A lot of the other teams only train right before a tournament or a league - for example, if the League is starting on July 30th, they’ll start training on the 20th, which is a bit late and players might not catch up enough physically.
[ Let’s talk about Diva Sports - what kind of coverage and reporting do you do? ]
I created the page before I started playing football, when I could just go and watch. The page was initially for one of the teams participating in the league at that time but afterwards I changed the name to Diva Sports and increased the scope.
Like I said, we have journalists here in South Sudan but they focus mostly on men’s football and rarely post about women’s football. I wanted to be there for my fellow female athletes and post about game results, transfers - and transfer rumors and highlight the players. I make phone calls, text and get information to put out there so people get to know the players and the teams.
My aim was to expose the unseen talents we have here. We have so many good players, but the media doesn’t know about them - some could even get opportunities to go and play in Europe, but if there’s no information about them, how will they get seen?
Mostly, I post photos, but I have plans of taking the next step and start recording videos so people can watch. Maybe someone's luck might come up and they get an agent who helps them play abroad!
The other goal is to change the mindset and narrative about women’s football in South Sudan. There was an interview recently with the national team coach and he said that some countries around Africa don’t want to play friendly games with South Sudan because we are ranked so far down - so even if they (another country) wins, it won’t help their own ranking.
I hope that by posting videos, people will see the kind of football that women play here and its intensity and the skills these girls have. And slowly by slowly, I hope that some of these girls get exposed to opportunities outside.
[ Are there any women from South Sudan playing professionally abroad? ]
Right now, there are two who left South Sudan to play in Europe. Deborah is in Albania and the captain, Amy, is in Lithuania. They got an opportunity through an agent to play abroad.
[ Did you take any inspiration or ideas from other football or sports media? ]
Yeah, there's a journalist called Juliet Bawuah from Ghana who is recognized internationally. I saw how she posts about women’s football and the Africa Cup of Nations. Her work inspired me.
I also look at the local media here and see how they post about men’s football and ‘twist’ it and think, how can I post about women’s football?
[ Has there been any kind of resistance or push back from others - maybe in ‘traditional’ sports media - about your work? ]
Well, sometimes there are some negative reactions or comments on the posts but I haven’t had a lot of negativity. Instead, people are very appreciative - like, ‘wow! I didn’t know a page like this exists in South Sudan focusing only on women’s football’.
"people are very appreciative - like, ‘wow! I didn’t know a page like this exists in South Sudan focusing only on women’s football’"
[ Are there difficulties doing media coverage and journalism as an active player? ]
It can be a bit difficult - especially when I need information, some are resistant to give it to me - especially those in different teams!
But that’s the only difficult part of it, I have friends who I can call and ask for information and introductions. I also talk to the fans and listen to people at football games. If I need more information after the game, I try to call someone who is closer to that team - or what they were talking about, to find out if it’s true or not. Then, I’ll write about it.
By now, I even have some of the coaches’ contacts and will reach out to them and ask specific questions.
[ What are some of the main challenges facing women’s football in South Sudan at the moment? ]
I'll start with the one that I am doing - the media, the visibility part of it. It’s very important to broadcast some of the games and report on the games.
Another big challenge is equipment. Lots of teams have no training equipment - or have to share with the men’s team. You can find players wearing the same boots for years, even if it’s torn, they just take it to a place where it can be stitched and come back. It makes players uncomfortable or unable to play to their best because they’re sliding around.
Only a few clubs have youth teams at the moment. Some academies are trying to start up, but it’s still the beginning.
The girls also aren’t motivated the same way as men in terms of finances. Even at the same clubs, the men are paid more - lots of ladies are signing for free and have to sacrifice a lot. In terms of transport to training and games, there are also challenges.
At the national team level, there are issues with finances and organization. For example, if they have an international game next month, they wait until it’s two weeks before and then start training - while other countries train and start preparing one or two months beforehand. They also have issues with traveling. Recently, the girls went to Tanzania by road and arrived on the day of the match. They were very tired and fatigued after traveling for 2 days to the match! That affects performance and leads to people saying negative things about the national team.
[ What do the next steps for you and Diva Sports look like? ]
My next step is, of course, to focus more on Diva Sports. One day, if I quit playing football - my contract with Munuki is up at the end of the year - then I’ll be focusing on writing about women’s football, making videos and growing.
If I retire, I’ll have more time to go to some of the training grounds and games and make some clips and photos of players. For now, the challenge I’m facing is the lack of equipment, a good phone or camera to make these videos. But that’s what I intend to do!
Another project I have in mind is to collect information about all the players in a kind of ‘database’. So we can see how many players are competing in the league and all the players’ profiles - including their age, height, weight, preferred foot, etc - and as I publish some of these videos to add them to these profiles, people can have the full details of the player.
This is huge work and I’d need some resources for gathering this information, printing documents and sharing them with the clubs.
So, these are some of my plans for the coming season!