Exiled Afghanistan women’s team still clinging to hope

It may not be Stadium Australia or Eden Park, but two days before the Women’s World Cup, CB Smith Reserve in outer north Melbourne will play host to a significant clash of its own: the inaugural Hope Cup.

Contested by the former Afghan women’s national team and “Football Empowerment”, a team representing the city’s refugee and migrant communities, the Hope Cup will be imbued with its own symbolism on the eve of the tournament.

“It’s going to be a very exciting and important, day,” says Fatima Yousufi, a goalkeeper and the Afghan captain.

The Afghan players and staff fled to Australia amid the chaotic fall of Kabul in August 2021 and have mostly resettled in Melbourne, where they have been supported by A-League club Melbourne Victory to play as a team in Football Victoria’s third division. But despite constituting the closest thing to an Afghan women’s representative team, with women’s sport banned by Taliban authorities, Fifa has refused to recognise them.

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“One day we were the national team, and for a long time we’ve been trying to be the national team again,” says Yousufi, who describes herself on Twitter as “goalkeeper by day, peacekeeper by night”.

For now, that struggle continues.

“When the situation is like this – the Taliban are in control of Afghanistan and ban not only sport, but even education for women – it’s so hard to see,” she says.

“The Hope Cup provides a big hope for lots of Afghan women and girls. It will be a great chance to show that we are together, we are united and we can represent our country.”

Yousufi is critical of Fifa’s failure to support the national team after the fall of Kabul. She says Fifa president Gianni Infantino once described the sport’s global governing body as a “home for athletes”. That has not been the team’s experience.

“The world has witnessed our situation: we are in Australia as refugees, we don’t have the right to represent our country,” she says.

“It’s been two years now and nothing has happened. My dream was one day to play, to represent my country in the World Cup, to see the Afghan flag amongst the other flags. But now we are not recognised as a team.”

The Afghan men’s team has resumed playing in Fifa-sanctioned competitions, most recently at the 2023 Central Asian Football Association Nations Cup in June. But the Taliban’s crackdown on women’s participation in society has only become more extreme.

“The men are playing, why not the women’s team?” Yousufi says.

The goalkeeper says she still harbours hope either the current team, or the next generation, may again represent the flag of Afghanistan on the world stage.

“One of the challenges is time, right?” she says. “If this is made right, it might be too late for our team. But I have to hope – if not for us, then for the next team, the next generation. I promise myself: we must do our best, whatever it takes. . . we’re doing this for Afghanistan.”

Among those cheering from the sidelines on Tuesday will be the Afghan ambassador, Wahidullah Waissi, who has remained in his post, in exile, since the fall of his nation’s democratic government, and representatives of the Australian government.

“While our country is shattered, dreams are shattered, this is the only hope: that they can play in exile, as the future in Afghanistan remains dark,” Waissi says. “There are millions of girls inside Afghanistan who are stuck, they cannot do anything – they need permission to walk outside their houses.

“There is no hope [for women] to play soccer any more in Afghanistan, let alone get a proper education. But I think the Hope Cup is a good gesture outside of Afghanistan, that the team finds this opportunity.”

Waissi pays tribute to the courage shown by the team’s players, in continuing to pursue football while adjusting to life in Australia after such a rapid period of upheaval.

“Being in exile is not an easy job,” he says. “It is very difficult, coping with a new life while you’re always thinking about your home country. The support given by the Australian community to these players has really been remarkable.”

Even though the Afghan team is barred from international competition by Fifa, Yousufi and her team-mates intent to make the most of the World Cup in their adopted homeland. Members of the team attended the Matildas’ warm up match against France in Melbourne, and are planning to be at games during the tournament.

“The atmosphere [at the warm-up match] was great,” Yousufi says. “I love that kind of atmosphere – I’m remembering Afghanistan, my home town, there wasn’t this much support of a women’s team. It is amazing to see everyone in love with the sport – it’s not about men or women, there is no inequality. Sport is for all.” - Guardian