\n
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) \u2014 Fatima Yousfi fled the Taliban and arrived in Australia with a backpack on her back and a burning ambition to play international soccer.<\/p>\n
Through their own determination, courage, and support from their families, people like Yousfi and Mona Amini were able to study and play soccer for their clubs and the Afghanistan women’s team. However, when the Taliban returned to power in 2021, all women’s sports were shut down and Afghanistan’s national team players went into hiding.<\/p>\n
After a desperate evacuation<\/span>Thirteen of the players settled in Australia, where they lived, played and trained for five years in hopes of representing their country again.<\/p>\nThe Afghanistan Football Federation does not recognize a women’s team. However, in April, soccer’s world governing body Afghanistan women’s team qualified for international tournaments<\/span>. <\/p>\nThis week, 23 members of the Afghanistan Women’s United program are in training camp in Auckland, New Zealand, where they will play a match against a team from the Cook Islands.<\/p>\n
“It was a special day to hear that Afghanistan could once again represent our national flag in an international competition,” midfielder Amini told The Associated Press on a Zoom call Tuesday. “This is the result of all the hard work we’ve put in over the last four or five years.”<\/p>\n
7 months ago Afghan women competed in the so-called “Unite” tournament<\/span> There they won a victory over Libya. <\/p>\n“It was a very special moment because we played in an international friendly tournament and got to hear our national anthem for the first time in three years,” Amini said. “That was surprising to me.”<\/p>\n
better future <\/h2>\n
The subsequent FIFA approval was another important milestone in a long and perilous journey.<\/p>\n
Melbourne-based goalkeeper Yusufi vividly remembers her reaction.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to have a national team! This is the best thing that could have happened to this team,” she said. “That was very important to us, especially considering when we arrived in Australia and lost everything: our family, our childhood memories and our national team.”<\/p>\n
Yusufi said he left home with only a backpack “to stay safe and stay alive.”<\/p>\n
“When we came here, the most important thing in our lives was to be soccer players and be on the soccer team,” she said. “When we found out we weren’t going to be (officially) on the national team and we weren’t going to be able to represent our country… it felt like we lost the game.”<\/p>\n
meanwhile Many ended up in Australia<\/span>Afghan players are scattered throughout Europe, and some are even in the United States. Coach Pauline Hamill runs camps to identify talent and helps assemble the team for competition.<\/p>\nThe memories of those darkest days remain as a strong motivation for the team’s success and for representing the women and girls who remain in their homeland. The Afghanistan women’s team played its last official match in 2018. <\/p>\n
“We couldn’t play freely in Afghanistan,” Amini said. “It was difficult to leave the house because there was a risk that the Taliban would see us and find out we were playing soccer. “It’s been a very difficult time. I’m sure each of the girls, each of us, fought hard to make this team. We’re very happy to be together now.”<\/p>\n
students and athletes<\/h2>\n
Yusfi, a former student and soccer player, said that even before the Taliban returned to power, it was difficult for girls to play soccer in Afghanistan due to “difficulties such as family barriers and society’s difficulty accepting women in sports.” <\/p>\n
“We were thinking about other consequences, like the dangers we were facing, the everyday dangers in Afghanistan like bomb explosions. Considering all of that, and it was the same for the other girls. We took all those risks to be part of the national team and to be soccer players.”<\/p>\n
Then life became even more difficult.<\/p>\n
“The only thing humans want is freedom, and the Taliban took away our freedom,” Amini said. “It’s really difficult not being able to get an education, not be able to play sports, not be able to go out, not be able to do what you love… (or) not being able to follow your dreams.”<\/p>\n
role model<\/h2>\n
Amini said the refugee athletes were determined to represent all women and girls in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here and we will do our best to do something for them and be their voice to bring a new generation of the future to the Afghanistan women’s national team,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Yousfi said she was among a group of players who had been “recruited by the Australian government” and said: “We are now living our lives, traveling with our football and education, and also representing all the girls in Afghanistan.”<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team could be the one that changes the way people think and the way they think about girls and women in Afghanistan,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are all doing our best to show that women and girls can be full members of society, that they can be involved in education and sports, and that women have that right too.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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