Banned from football at home, Afghan women's team reunite 8,000 miles away

What the report says

Afghan women footballers who were forced out of the sport at home have reunited in New Zealand for the first time since Fifa said they could one day represent Afghanistan in official matches. The 23-player squad, now known as Afghan Women United and made up of players living in countries including Australia, the UK and Portugal, is in Auckland for a training camp and two unofficial friendlies against the Cook Islands. BBC News reported that the group gathered under an Afghan flag and said the moment carried strong emotional weight.

The article said the team’s return to the pitch comes after years in which women’s football was effectively ended in Afghanistan, first by Taliban restrictions after they returned to power in 2021 and then by the loss of the approval process that had previously been required from the Afghanistan Football Federation. Fifa’s April ruling created a path for the refugee team to seek future qualification for major tournaments such as the World Cup and Olympics, though the squad is not yet competing in official international matches.

Several players described football as central to their independence and survival. Some said they had faced family criticism, social pressure and the need to leave Afghanistan, with one player saying she buried her medals before fleeing. Others spoke about education, work and resettlement abroad, contrasting those opportunities with the restrictions faced by women and girls inside Afghanistan.

The BBC framed the team’s trip as both a sporting milestone and a wider symbol of what Afghan women have lost and continue to fight for under Taliban rule.