Fifa closes on recognising Afghanistan women’s team but players say it is too late | OneFootball

Fifa has cleared the way for the exiled Afghanistan women’s national team to represent the country but has been criticised for moving too slowly, four years after players fled the country when the Taliban returned to power.

Football’s global governing body said it was committed to supporting players outside Afghanistan and would organise training camps, provide staff (including qualified coaches and technical and medical staff) and coordinate friendly matches.

The pledges were made in a letter to the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA), which has been pressing for the exiled team to be recognised. The Afghanistan women’s side last played an official game in 2018.

Current and former players welcomed Fifa’s steps but expressed frustration at the pace of change. Fifa’s move comes too late for potential participation at the 2027 Women’s World Cup because the team will not be in the draw on Thursday for the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers. That tournament determines qualification for the World Cup and Olympic Games.

“Players want to play for their country, they want to represent the women of Afghanistan and they want to be a voice for those who are on a voiceless journey,” the national team player Mursal Sadat said. “The Taliban took that platform from us. Not only us: it’s worth mentioning that it’s the fourth educational year that women are not allowed to go to school. How can we expect the Taliban to negotiate about sports if they’re not even allowing education for women? They would never negotiate. They are traumatised by women, they don’t like women, they are afraid of women’s rights and women’s voices and what they can do.

“Unfortunately, Fifa’s inaction took our platform away from us for four years. We sacrificed four years, youthful years, four years that we could have represented, four years that we could have advocated, four years in which we could have pushed the world towards bigger change for women of Afghanistan. We watched the 2023 Women’s World Cup from the sidelines. Yet, in two days we have another draw for the Asian Cup qualifiers and we’re still not allowed to play.”

Khalida Popal, a founder of the Afghanistan women’s national team and the first woman to work for the Afghanistan Football Federation, said: “Fifa’s letter is a positive step towards collaborative action and recognising the sacrifice of Afghan women and Afghan women football players. Today more than ever, we want the leadership from governing bodies of sport. Afghanistan should be a case study and used to show how the governing bodies of sport have to create systems so women don’t lose opportunities.”

The SRA and others, such as Popal, Malala Yousafzai and Human Rights Watch, have consistently called for Fifa to recognise the exiled team. The senior side were evacuated to Australia in 2021, and members of youth teams, provincial teams and staff reached the UK, US, Portugal, Italy and Albania.

An SRA report released on Tuesday details how women’s football became a symbol of struggle for women’s rights in Afghanistan and the desire of exiled players to represent their country in international competition.

Many players have continued to play, with the national team’s senior side entering the seventh tier of Australian women’s football in Melbourne in March 2022. Under Fifa rules the organisation of an Afghanistan women’s team has been the responsibility of the Taliban-controlled AFF.

Fifa said in its letter that it was “committed to developing practical and sustainable measures that promote access to football for all Afghan women and girls to the greatest extent possible” and that it had developed a strategy and implementation plan to ensure opportunities exist for Afghan women inside and outside the country.

It also said it wanted to focus on activities to promote the wellbeing of women and girls in Afghanistan and to take part in diplomatic dialogue with organisations and governments inside and outside the country to “explore ways to reduce the exclusion from sport of women and girls in Afghanistan over time”. Fifa pointed out that it had played a role in helping women’s footballers, associated staff and their families to get out of Afghanistan.

Andrea Florence, the SRA’s executive director, said: “Afghan women footballers’ ability to play internationally depends entirely on intervention from Fifa. Fifa’s letter in response to our report laid out their strategy to support Afghan women. It is great to hear that Fifa is working to promote playing opportunities for the players, but we remain hopeful that they will decide to officially recognise the team and allocate financial support as it does to other member associations.”

Header image: [Photograph: AFP/Getty Images]