DW: Afghanistan’s former internationals continue to play football together — in Australian exile. The sport’s global goverining body, FIFA, has so far denied them recognition as the Afghan national team. The team is “like a second family in a strange country,” defender Fatima Mursal Sadat tells DW. Click here to read more (external link).
Khalida Popal and Malala Yousafzai via the Guardian(UK): As the Taliban erases women from all public life, the Afghan women’s football team players remain symbols of courage and resistance for their country. Most of the team now live in Australia, where they train for an uncertain future. After losing their homes, livelihoods, and many friends
CNN: “They were beating our parents, our family members, our teammates,” Fatima, who is spokesperson for the Afghanistan Women’s National Football team, told CNN Sport. “You didn’t know if you’ll be alive, or dead soon.” The scene being described is the fall of Kabul in 2021 and the frantic rush to exit Afghanistan before the
ESPN: Eight months after being forced to flee for their lives as the Taliban seized control of their homeland, the Afghanistan women’s national team marked another monumental step in their journey on Sunday, officially returning to competitive football. Click here to read more (external link).
The Independent (UK): ‘Leaving the country was the only option’ says captain. ‘They have killed the soul of women and just left their bodies’. Women and girls beaten and threatened with death for playing football in Afghanistan have revealed the horror of their long and harrowing journey to safety in Britain. Click here to read
Tolo News: Wali Mohammad Noori, a blind Afghan athlete, is set to run a half marathon in London on Sunday. Noori took third place in a running competition held over a month ago in London. Noori’s good performance in the previous competition led him to be selected for the next half marathon. Click here to
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 21, 2021 World soccer’s governing body FIFA says a second group of 57 Afghan refugees linked to women’s soccer and basketball has been evacuated from Afghanistan to Qatar. The group, comprising women and children, landed in Doha on October 20 on a Qatar Airways flight, FIFA said in a statement on October
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi September 15, 2021 A group of top Afghan girls soccer players, their coaches, and family members have fled across the border into neighboring Pakistan as questions linger over the status of female athletes under the newly installed Taliban-led government. “I am so happy to announce that today, more than 79 youth female
AP: Players from Afghanistan women’s national soccer team had an “important victory” on Tuesday when they were among a group of more than 75 people evacuated on a flight from Kabul. “The last few days have been extremely stressful but today we have achieved an important victory,” former team captain Khalida Popal said. Click here
CBS News: Afghan taekwondo athlete Zakia Khudadadi was supposed to be on her way to the Tokyo Paralympics and become her country’s first ever female participant in the Games. Instead, as the Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan, the 23-year-old tells CBS News she and her family are living a “nightmare.” Click here to read