Yemen's National League returns after a decade of silence as ceasefire holds

Professional football returned to Yemen for the first time in over a decade when the country’s National League resumed in Sanaa, with hundreds of fans attending a match between Wahda Sanaa and Shaab Hadramout — clubs representing opposite sides of a civil war that has ravaged the country since 2014.

The league’s revival follows a 2022 ceasefire that has held since May of that year, creating enough stability to resurrect a competition that had been dormant for 11 years. The symbolism of the occasion was impossible to miss: captains from Wahda Sanaa, based in the Houthi-controlled capital, and Shaab Hadramout, from a province under a Saudi-backed regional coalition, exchanged pennants before kick-off. In the stands, fans in wigs and face paint groaned at a missed chance — small, familiar rituals of matchday life that had been absent for years.

For a country ranked among the world’s poorest and pushed deeper into poverty by conflict, the scenes carried an emotional weight that extended well beyond sport. Mohammed Abu Ghalib, a player for Hilal Hudayda from the contested port city of Hudayda, captured the mood: “Everyone is happy and delighted to see Yemeni soccer back in action. God willing, soccer is a message of peace for the Yemeni people.”

Sports journalist Mohammed al-Qasemi described the atmosphere in the stands as evidence of a deeper longing. “When you attend a match and see such large crowds, you see that the Yemeni people long for everything that is beautiful,” he said.

Tunisian commentator Issam Chaouali, one of the Arab world’s most prominent football voices, framed the league’s return as something larger than a sporting event. “It will be a message of hope, a touch of life, and a joy that fans who have been patient and waited deserve,” he said, calling it a return “not only to the sport but also to the pulse of life.”

The road ahead remains difficult. Many sports facilities in Sanaa were badly damaged during the conflict and remain unfit for use. Nabih Naser, the Houthi government’s deputy sports and youth minister, acknowledged severe financial constraints but expressed ambition to attract private sector investment and develop infrastructure across more than 30 sports federations.

Ghalib, meanwhile, believes the league’s return will inspire a new generation of players and strengthen the national team — a longer-term hope rooted in the simple fact that football is being played again.