Fifa has given permission for Afghan Women United, a squad composed of refugees scattered around the world in Australia, the Middle East and Europe, to represent Afghanistan in official competitions without requiring the approval of the Taliban.
In a significant regulation change to be approved by the Fifa Council today, Afghan Women will be permitted to compete as the official Afghanistan national team for the first time, against the wishes of the country’s government.
Under the previous regulations Fifa required the team to receive recognition from the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan Football Federation, which will not recognize a women’s football team due to the Taliban’s ban on women’s sports.
For more than three years, the Afghan Women players and their supporters have campaigned for Fifa to intervene and provide them with the official recognition and financial support denied to them by Afghanistan.
Afghan Women was formed after the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and the official women’s national team, which had been set up in 2007, was banned with most of their players seeking asylum.
The new team was part of a three-pillar strategy introduced by Fifa to support women and girls in Afghanistan, which also included engaging in diplomatic efforts to advocate for the right of women to take part in sport and providing opportunities for them to play.
Fifa also organized fixtures for the team and last year set up the inaugural Fifa Unites: Women’s Series in the United Arab Emirates, although the players were denied visas which led to the tournament being moved to Morocco.
“When I step on to the pitch everything else is automatically erased from my mind,” captain Fatima Haidari, who is based in Italy, told the Guardian in an interview last year.
“I train, I play, and a fire inside me is lit, not just because of the power that I feel at that moment as a player, but because I feel I have many other girls with me. It’s like I’m taking their hands. Like I’m playing with them. It’s not just for me, and I feel powerful.”