FIFA Has Changed Its Rules To Allow Afghan Women Football Players In Exile To Compete In International Matches
Former Afghanistan captain and activist Khalida Popal, who has campaigned for years for recognition, said the decision changed the future for Afghan women.
FIFA has approved a rule change that will allow Afghan women footballers in exile to compete in official international matches for the first time since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
When the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, women were banned from sport, and the Afghanistan women’s national team effectively stopped existing.
Many players fled the country, fearing persecution and continued training in exile.
Under FIFA’s previous rules, the team could not compete officially because national teams needed recognition through their country’s football federation, which the Taliban-controlled federation refused to give, according to Reuters.
On Tuesday, April 29, FIFA announced it had approved an amendment to its governance regulations allowing Afghan women players to represent their country in official matches in agreement with the Asian Football Confederation.
This decision means Afghan Women United, a team made up of Afghan refugee players living in countries including Australia, the UK, Europe and the US, can now officially represent Afghanistan in FIFA competitions without approval from the Taliban-controlled Afghan football federation.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino called it a “powerful and unprecedented step in world sport,” according to FIFA.
Former Afghanistan captain and activist Khalida Popal, who has campaigned for years for recognition, said the decision changed the future for Afghan women.
“For five years, we were told the Afghanistan Women’s National Team could never compete again because the men who took our country would not allow it,” she said, according to Human Rights Watch.
She said the team would become “a symbol of resistance” for women still living under Taliban restrictions in Afghanistan.
The team is too late to enter qualification for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, but they can compete in qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Reuters reported.
They are also expected to play exhibition matches during the June international window.
FIFA has also been holding regional selection camps in England and Australia for players in exile.
The move is one of the first times FIFA has created a formal pathway for exiled women athletes to represent their country without the government's approval that excluded them.
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