Our Story & Values

We started as a grassroots initiative in Hargeisa, Somaliland, where sport was not widely available to women and girls. Sarreya began in 2015, by women in Hargeisa who just wanted to play sport.

We found very few places that were open to women, mainly during anti-social hours and with little to no consideration of women's needs. That's why we decided to create something ourselves. Together, we found a football pitch, with high walls and a supportive owner – somewhere safe for us to play football. We started playing for fun and opened up to the community as a grassroots movement.

Today, girls and women of all ages have the opportunity to regularly play, connecting 300 women across the city. As the popularity of women's football has increased globally, more women and girls are finding their way to football pitches in Hargeisa.

Using a 'pay what you can' model, and never rejecting any who cannot pay, our activities remain accessible to all who are interested in participating, whether it be for sport, health or a safe space to socialise.

We are now officially registered as Sarreya, a woman's name meaning 'high' or 'peak', which is what we will continue to work toward. Gobanimo FC, the name of our football club is the Somali word for independence.