Football was introduced in Somalia by the Italians, as an amateur sport activity of colonial Mogadishu & surroundings in the late 1920s.

The police and military teams became the strongest ones, and as matches between them resulted in conflict and tensions, they were eventually combined to form "Horseed".

[4] In 1931 governor Maurizio Rava created the Federazione Sportiva della Somalia, which organized competences of football for the Italian community and promoted the first sport activities among the young native population.

In 1933 the first Somali football championship was created in Mogadishu, called Coppa Federazione Sportiva, with three teams ("Societa' Mogadiscio", "Milizia" and the winner "Marina"[5]).

The Somali Youth League was indeed an organization created by thirteen young men and Football was then one of their common interests.

Organized by the autonomous Puntland administration in conjunction with the Somali Football Federation, the tournament also marked the first time that the event was held outside Mogadishu.