Amu: Afghanistan will play Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates in a tri-nation Twenty20 series in Sharjah later this summer, the Afghanistan Cricket Board said Friday. The tournament, hosted by the Emirates Cricket Board, will be held at Sharjah Cricket Stadium from Aug. 29 to Sept. 7. Each team will play two group-stage matches against
Khaama: Mujtaba Panjshiri, an Afghan mixed martial artist, delivered a stunning victory on Saturday night, July 12 in Lahore, Pakistan, knocking out his Pakistani opponent, Asad, in under one minute. The fight was part of a semi-main event in the ongoing ETF (Elite Training Federation) competitions held in Pakistan. The swift and decisive win showcased
Afghanistan International: The team will now be eligible to compete in FIFA-sanctioned competitions. The Afghanistan Women’s Refugee Team (AWRT) will initially operate on a one-year pilot basis, designed to assess the long-term viability of the initiative and lay the groundwork for the potential formation of similar teams representing refugees of other nationalities in future. Click
Ariana: Afghanistan Cricket Board’s National Selection Committee this week finalized the Afghanistan National U19 team squad for the upcoming Youth ODI Series against Nepal, as well as the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup Asia Qualifiers scheduled for next month in Nepal. The selection process for the National U19 Team included rigorous training and preparation
Reuters: A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers called on FIFA to recognize the exiled Afghanistan women’s soccer team, in a letter sent to the sport’s international governing body on Friday. The team has been playing in exile in Australia since the Taliban took control of the Afghan government in August 2021, causing many prominent women
ESPN: Khalida Popal and a handful of members of the Afghanistan Women’s Team (AWT) she helped found 16 years ago arrived at Federation Square just in time to watch the kickoff of Australia’s opening game of the Women’s World Cup last Thursday. Click here to read more (external link).
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).