Afghanistan’s Women’s National Football Team: Playing in safety but restrained from the international stage
Melbourne, Australia: a women’s team is playing on the pitch of Melbourne Victory. This is not a team like any other. It’s the Afghan Women’s National Football Team.
Despite its restrictive asylum policy, the Australian government has granted visas for this team under the country’s humanitarian programme. In an extraordinary effort including several human rights organisations such as Human Rights for All and FIFPRO plus the help of individuals like the former Crystal Palace and Portsmouth defender Craig Foster, human rights lawyer Nikki Dryden and the former Afghan captain Khalida Popal, the Afghan Women’s National Team managed to escape from Kabul to Melbourne. At least 4,100 people were evacuated from Kabul by the Australian government.
Player Fatima with Khalida Popal at the Hope Cup,18 July 2023 in Melbourne,Australia.
Melbourne is situated around 11,000 kilometres away from Kabul and both worlds couldn’t be more apart. Australia’s largest football club Melbourne Victory welcomed the Afghan women with a licence to compete in the lowest division, in Victoria’s State League Division 4 West. The players confirmed feeling stronger in Australia. They can do whatever they want and intend to do their best with all the possibilities which are offered to them.
Nevertheless, life has remained complicated for the team. For example, backup goalkeeper Montaha has looked after herself and has to raise her brother in Australia without the support of her family, who had to remain in Kabul. “We want to show the Taliban that we are never going to stop,” Montaha stated audaciously.
Training session of the Afghan Women’s National Football Team in Melbourne,Australia.
Life under the Taliban, a perilous escape and the beginning of a new life in Melbourne
NATO troops left Afghanistan in August 2021, consolidating Taliban control. For women and girls, Afghanistan became more and more hopeless, even life-threatening. Fatima Yousufi, the team’s captain and goalkeeper says, “Women’s rights, earned painfully over 20 years, have been wound back.”
Under the Taliban rule women and girls are even denied basic human rights. They are not allowed to leave the house by themselves, cannot go to school from a certain age and are only allowed in certain professions. Sport is frowned upon by the Taliban regime, prohibiting women to partake in any sport discipline. According to Human Rights Watch, it is the world’s “most serious women’s rights crisis.”
Life in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
The escape to Melbourne was utterly painful. Fatima Yousufi recalls the sounds of children screaming at Kabul airport. Everybody was terrified and running to get out of the country. Fatima still suffers from the fact that she had to leave her parents and youngest sister behind.
Through their hardship the Afghan team has built up a strong bond described by the women as ´one for all and all for one.´ That’s our team. To have obtained a license for playing football is not the ultimate goal for the Afghan National team. They stand for their return on the international stage and their official recognition.
A continuous fight for international recognition
However, FIFA doesn’t officially recognize the Afghan Women’s National Football team. Instead, FIFA argues that it “does not have the right to officially recognize any team unless it is first recognized by the concerned Member Association.” With these measures, FIFA has put the responsibility on the Afghanistan Football Federation. Yet, it could be dangerous for any member of the Federation to be outspoken against the decision of the Taliban.
John Didulica, sports director of Melbourne Victory points out to Damien Peck from ABC Sport that FIFA’s policy is “absurd, if the FIFA intends to take human rights seriously.” He also announced that his Australian A-League women’s team intends to provide the Afghan women with the best possible programme to prepare them for their return on the international stage.
When Australia hosted the Women’s World Cup 2023, the Afghan National team could only watch it from the side line. They have not featured in the FIFA’s women’s team rankings since the beginning of 2022. However, gender equality was one of the eight social causes promoted by the 2023 Women’s World Cup. “And the greatest discrimination is the prohibition against even playing the game,” Craig Foster, told Hilary Whiteman from CNN.
The team made several requests to FIFA which remained unanswered. Furthermore, Khalida Popal released an article in a joint initiative with Nobel Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai in the Guardian in January 2023 as a public call for recognition. Popal emphasized that “we have not only the senior women’s national team, we have the youth teams around Europe, and even some of them in the US and Canada.”
Hope Cup, 18 July 2023 in Melbourne, Australia.
The Afghan players were only left with visiting Morocco’s public training session at the Women’s World Cup. The participation of the Moroccan team as the first Arab nation to quality for the World Cup meant a great source of inspiration for the Afghan team. “This is a huge chance for the Moroccan team to show the world that Muslim women in every single country can participate,” Afghan player Farida explained.
The Afghan Women’s Team continued their efforts on this stony path for recognition by hosting the inaugural Hope Cup on the 18 July 2023 just two days before the opening match of the World Cup. They played against Football Empowerment, a team consisting of members from Melbourne’s refugee communities.
A-League Team Melbourne Victory has provided the team facilities and coaching. The Afghan women played two seasons in Victoria’s State League having reached League 3. They have continued to rise, winning 1-0 over Endeavor United SC in their promotion playoff in September. The team won the Women’s State League 3 Play-Off Final and can still only play at club level. The FIFA international recognition they long for has still not arrived though.
Yet, the team’s hopes don’t stop there. Defender Mursal Sadat summarizes their aspirations in the following way: “I have lots of dreams for my future but the most important one is to play for the Afghanistan national team once again and see Afghanistan as an unrestricted country.”
