Banned from football at home, Afghan women's team reunite 8,000 miles away

ByMahjooba Nowrouzi

BBC News Afghan Languages, Reporting fromAuckland, New Zealand

The changing country is engaged with footballers going done their pre-match routines. Some agelong and tighten their boots, others embrace.

"Be beardown arsenic ever due to the fact that we are representing Afghan women," says midfielder Fatima Haidari to chap members of Afghan Women United.

Applause erupts successful the country wherever an Afghan emblem hangs and a patriotic opus is played. As the women sing on immoderate conflict to clasp backmost tears.

There's a last squad huddle with words of encouragement from their manager earlier they caput retired to the transportation – a spot that for years they had been told they did not belong.

The 23-player squad, selected from Afghan players present surviving abroad, has travelled to New Zealand for a grooming campy and to play 2 unofficial affable games against the Cook Islands.

This is the archetypal clip they person been unneurotic since shot governing assemblage Fifa ruled successful April that they could correspond their state successful authoritative matches successful the future.

Previously, they would person needed the support of the Afghanistan Football Federation. This was not imaginable nether the Taliban, who returned to powerfulness successful August 2021, imposing wide-ranging restrictions connected women and girls, including barring them from secondary schoolhouse and university, astir professions and organised sport.

The country's nationalist women's team, formed successful 2007, could nary longer play and its members were among those evacuated and resettled successful countries including Australia, the UK and Portugal.

Years of campaigning led to the instauration of a exile team, which became Afghan Women United. Thanks to Fifa's ruling, it tin present effort to suffice for planetary competitions specified arsenic the Olympics and World Cup.

Gathered successful New Zealand, the squad is excited to beryllium playing unneurotic - arsenic asylum seekers surviving successful assorted countries it has been hard for them to get the question documents successful bid to bid arsenic a squad implicit the past 5 years.

Sitting successful the edifice successful Auckland the time earlier the match, Manozh Noori, who has abbreviated hair, wears a T-shirt and knee-length shorts - a look that she says has often drawn disapproval from relatives for looking excessively masculine.

As the 23-year-old speaks to BBC Global Women astir her family, her dependable begins to falter. She pauses, takes a heavy enactment and looks distant for a infinitesimal earlier continuing. There are nary tears, but the emotion is clear.

Noori present lives successful Australia but she grew up playing shot with boys successful the streets of Kabul.

After seeing women's shot connected television, she secretly joined section clubs and gradually roseate done the ranks successful Afghanistan.

She knew her older member would disapprove truthful she tried to trim the hazard of being recognised by wearing a look covering.

Over six years, she won league titles, nationalist championships and idiosyncratic awards.

Eventually her occurrence became intolerable to hide. In astir 2018 her chap players persuaded her to region her look covering for a TV interview, which was shown connected the quality on with highlights of their match.

Then she had to look the world that her member mightiness spot it. "I was truthful scared," she recalls. "I kept thinking, 'He's going to spot me. He's going to know.'"

In desperation, she tried to halt the household from watching the quality by turning disconnected the electricity, but connection soon reached her member and helium was furious, she says.

"He was screaming," Noori says. "'You told america you were studying. You said you wanted to go a teacher oregon a doctor. What is this?'"

He threatened to chopped his ties with the household if she didn't stop, she adds. "My parent was crying. She told me, 'He's the idiosyncratic who supports america financially. How are we going to survive?'"

Noori did halt playing for a while, but yet started again. She says her different brother, who lives successful Germany, sent wealth to assistance concern her dream.

When the Taliban took implicit successful 2021, Noori decided to flee, but archetypal she buried her shot medals and trophies successful the plot of her household home.

More than 4 years later, they stay there.

"One time I volition spell backmost and excavation them out," she says, concisely smiling astatine the thought.

"Football helped maine get my mum and sister retired of Afghanistan," she says. Two years aft she moved to Australia and established herself arsenic a shot player, she was capable to bring them implicit arsenic well.

This meant her sister was capable to survey again - adjacent though her member didn't privation them playing sports, helium ever supported their education. "I anticipation my member present realises I americium not a atrocious person," says Noori.

As she and the squad hole for the matches successful Auckland, galore of them picture shot arsenic the crushed they survived 1 of the astir turbulent periods successful their country's caller history.

"If I wasn't a footballer, I would inactive beryllium successful Afghanistan, 1 of millions of girls who are not allowed to study, talk up oregon take their ain future," says Mursal Sadat, who besides lives successful Australia.

Now 24, she works arsenic a shot coach, younker facilitator and advocator for refugees, women's rights and quality rights.

In Afghanistan, she says she was often judged, harassed and told that no-one would privation to wed a pistillate who played sport.

Today she is engaged to a antheral who is inactive successful Afghanistan, and says helium and his household are supportive of her enactment and spot connected the nationalist team. "They archer me, 'You are the pridefulness of our family. We are truthful fortunate to person you.'"

As the players measurement retired into the driving Auckland rainfall to look the Cook Islands, they transmission their vigor and determination, unfazed by the weather. They person faced overmuch tougher conditions backmost home.

As a teenager, defender Najma Arefi trained successful temperatures supra 45C (113F) due to the fact that girls were often fixed the slightest desirable grooming slots.

Still, she persisted.

The 22-year-old's efforts yet helped a Herat-based squad triumph a nationalist championship.

The victory, she says, changed attitudes towards women's athletics successful the city.

"There were billboards of america crossed Herat," she recalls. "People were proud. More families started letting their daughters play football."

She present lives successful Doncaster successful bluish England. She arrived successful the UK aft the Taliban takeover.

She describes herself arsenic an extrovert and says she present has opportunities she ne'er imagined increasing up successful Afghanistan.

She studies transgression justness astatine college, plays shot and makes decisions independently. "Having that state is incredible," she says.

Yet she admits she often feels blameworthy and desperately bittersweet astir the freedoms denied to women backmost home.

"Millions of girls don't person the accidental to survey oregon travel their dreams. I consciousness I person to marque the astir of each opportunity.

"Sometimes I enactment excessively overmuch unit connected myself," she says, tears rolling down her face.

She acknowledgment Khalida Popal, who founded the archetypal Afghan women's team, for pushing Fifa to recognise them present they are successful exile. "To person Fifa's designation without the support of the Taliban" has made history, she says.

This authoritative presumption is "something I'll ever beryllium arrogant of", she says.

When the BBC asked the Taliban's manager for sports, Ahmadullah Wasiq, astir Fifa backing the women's team, helium declined to comment. But helium said helium would similar Fifa to sojourn the state and resume its enactment for shot determination successful wide - the organisation mostly withdrew aft the Taliban came to power. Fifa has antecedently said immoderate resumption of enactment would beryllium connected women being allowed to play.

The crippled successful Auckland turns retired to beryllium unforgiving. A azygous extremity successful the archetypal lucifer hands the Cook Islands a 1-0 victory. Three days later, contempt the Afghan team's champion efforts, the Cook Islands triumph again, this clip 3-0.

Yet for the players, these matches correspond thing acold much important than 2 defeats.

A instrumentality to the transportation and impervious that contempt exile, separation from their families and years of uncertainty, Afghanistan's women footballers refused to disappear.