The Fight for an Afghanistan Women's Team Isn't only About Soccer to Its Advocates
The ruling ends eight years of exile and lets about 70 players enter FIFA tournaments under Afghanistan’s name, officials said.
- The FIFA Council voted on Tuesday to amend rules, allowing the Afghan women's national football team to compete under its country's name despite the Taliban's prohibition on women's sports.
- When the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and prohibited women's sports, more than 70 players fled into exile; previously, these athletes competed under the 'Afghan Women United' banner.
- Former captain Khalida Popal spearheaded a long campaign for recognition for more than 80 refugee players scattered across Australia, the United States, and Europe, with training camps recently held in England and Australia.
- Led by Scottish coach Pauline Hamill, the team is expected to play exhibition matches during the upcoming June international window, though specific locations and opponents remain undetermined.
- The amendment means the team could eventually qualify for the World Cup or the Olympics, a move FIFA chief football officer Jill Ellis said reinforces that sport 'can not just bring people together, but create change.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Associated Press News
The fight for an Afghanistan women's team isn't only about soccer to its advocates
The formal recognition of an Afghanistan women’s refugee team on the international stage isn’t just about soccer for former player and activist Khalida Popal.
Fifa recognition for Afghan women’s team is about ‘showing we exist’, says captain Fatima Haidari
Fifa has amended its rules so that a scattered team of exiled players can still compete internationally under the flag of the Afghan republic. But as they celebrate this moment, the home nation they represent remains out of reach. Namita Singh speaks to the captain of Afghan Women United Source link : https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/afghanistan-women-footballers-fifa-taliban-exile-b2971197.html Author : [...]
Afghan women, war-scarred and scattered across the world, can finally play FIFA tournaments
This moment offers hope and fires the imagination of thousands of athletes who fled the country when the Taliban returned to power in 2021. When it started restricting women’s sports, 70-odd women associated with football fled their country just so that they could play football, with the help of expat footballers around the world
"To those who try to exclude women from society: you will not succeed. The place of women is in the field, in public life and wherever decisions are made." In the words of Khalida Popal, former captain and co-founder of the Afghan women's national team, a battle is condensed that transcends football. On April 29, 2026 Fifa opened to the official recognition of the team in exile, remained outside the international competitions for years after the…
The FIFA Council, meeting in Vancouver, Canada, has approved an amendment to the institution's governance regulations that will allow Afghan players, including those of the Afghan Women United refugee team, to represent their country in official international matches. This measure will allow the Council of world football's governing body, in agreement with the relevant confederation, to approve the registration of a national team or representati…
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