Afghan women, war-scarred and scattered across the world, can finally play FIFA tournaments

War-scarred women footballers from Afghanistan living in exile across the world, can finally play in FIFA tournaments. After eight long years, they can proudly bear their country’s name, and not compete under the Afghan Women United banner. Although FIFA has not officially recognised the Afghan Football Federation, as the ruling Taliban has banished all women’s sports, the world football governing body’s council voted on Tuesday to circumvent the rule. It’s a resonant moment.

This moment offers hope and fires the imagination of athletes who fled the country when the Taliban returned to power in 2021. When it started restricting women’s sports, 70-odd women fled their country just so that they could continue playing football, with the help of expats around the world. Their captain, Shabnam Mobarez, who was raised in Denmark, reached out to the community across the world and soon they found refuge in Australia, England, where the women’s youth team trains, in partnership with the Premier League side Leeds United, Portugal and Italy.

The team will have success stories like Mobarez, Nadia Nadeem and Khalida Popal to emulate. They have rising talents like Fatima Foladi, who sneaked into the airport, showed her football credentials to the US military retreating from the country and managed to board the flight to the US. Manoozh Noori buried her medals in her backyard and escaped to Australia, where she plays for a club in the top division. Nilab Mohammadi, the women’s team captain, left her post in the Afghanistan Army and fled to Australia. Some of their tales are stranger than fiction. They might never be as famous as Brazil’s Marta or Spain’s Alexia Putellas, but no law or custom could stop them from turning up for their country and fulfilling their dream.