Barcelona“Everything went very fast. We didn’t get a place on the flights to Qatar, so we had to flee by land. It was very sad. We were advised to burn any evidence of our participation in football matches, such as shirts or tracksuits, but some girls risked hiding their boots, “said Sabreyah Nowrozi, the captain of the Afghan national football team.
For the past few weeks, a group of 130 people have been living in boarding houses and foster homes in the English city of Leeds, awaiting their future. They are the players of the Afghan national football team, as well as some of their relatives, a group of 10 coaches and other women linked to women’s football in Afghanistan. The youngest of them is a 12-year-old girl. When the Taliban took control of the entire country, women involved in sports activities suffered for their future. If they had already been attacked when the Taliban were in the mountains, what could happen now?
Athletes from different disciplines were able to board a flight from the Australian government with the support of the International Olympic Committee. Women at risk of being persecuted for playing an important role in Afghan women’s sports. Those unable to board the flights would cross the border into Pakistan by land in the following weeks, after more than 10 days suffering for their lives hidden in Kabul. Nowrozi, of the city of Herat, recalls how “when it became clear that we had to flee, we had to go to Kabul to board a flight to Qatar, but when we were on the bus on the way to the airport we were taken off We thought there was no way to escape, it was a few days of anguish, and finally we were taken by road to the border. with his whips on his head and back, because we were showing his face. It was very hot, there was dust, we couldn’t cover our faces … but they hit us, “he recalls. At the border, the Taliban insulted them again when they showed the documents they had hidden with the Football Federation logo needed to cross the border. “We were told that we were not Muslims, that we were not ashamed,” Nowrozi said of his escape.
De Kabul a Leeds
On the other side of the border, the group would spend weeks at the facilities of the Pakistan Football Federation, hoping to find a destination. Khalida Popal, the woman who for many years was the captain of the national team, was waiting for them in Islamabad. Popal, who works with the FIFA International Football Federation, left his country years ago after receiving death threats and now lives in Denmark, as he explained to ARA. Her role as FIFA ambassador has allowed her to work to try to offer a new future to as many compatriots as possible. The result of their work has been that the ball rolls for them again. In this case, in Leeds. Popal helped coordinate efforts to bring this group of women to Europe along with footballer Kashif Siddiqi, a London-born but international man with his parents’ country, Pakistan. He was in charge of adding to the cause the local Federation, that offered facilities to welcome the group until they could fly towards England. “My mother was a war refugee and was able to find a new home in the UK. I grew up with these values, so something had to be done,” said Siddiqi, who leads an NGO that promotes football. Pakistani community in the UK to fight racism and lack of integration in certain neighborhoods.
In the last week of November, this group of 130 people arrived in the British city thanks to the support of the NGOs Siddiqi and others, one of them the Kardashian sisters, who would have put the money to pay for the flight that went to land in London. But the one who ended up getting more involved was the owner of Leeds United, the millionaire Andrea Radrizzani, through his NGO Play for Change. “We couldn’t stand still. Maybe the day will come when any of these girls will be able to play in the women’s Leeds. But now it’s up to them to secure their future,” she said on social media after putting in the money they helped to take the players out of Afghanistan by road. “They are still suffering if they are brought back. They have lost everything, but despite the good words of many governments, they are not being given refugee status. In fact, the Leeds authorities are not giving them a place to live, and they are still sleeping in Khalida Popal complains of temporary positions suffering for her future.
Popal had managed to keep in touch with them. “We told them to delete photos on social media, to burn sportswear, not to leave tracks for the Taliban. We know that after leaving the country, the Taliban entered the home of their relatives asking,” he said. Popal, who received death threats, especially when it was reported that the president of the Afghan Football Federation was sexually abusing dozens of players before the Taliban returned to power. “When we trained, we did it secretly indoors to avoid insults, but the very soldiers who protected us insulted us because they were traditional, sexist people,” recalls Popal, who is still worried about the future of the footballers. “The British government has opened the door for them now thanks to the support of various NGOs, but it has not included them in the list of Afghans who will receive permission to reside in the country. They have been left in a kind of legal limbo,” he said. Thus, in the first week of December, the same girls who saw themselves being denied the right to aspire to an official shelter could start training in the sports city of Leeds United. “The club leaves us the facilities, the clothes, it puts a lot of its part into it, it’s a support” explains Popal. He also invited them to watch a Premier League match, the day the home team, led by Marcelo Bielsa, defeated Crystal Palace 1-0. “It was a beautiful day, to be able to watch a Premier League match live. Many of us dream of returning home one day, but we are also excited to imagine that we can play in an English club,” admits Nowrozi, who dreams of studying education. children in the UK. “And playing for Chelsea”, whose club she is a fan of.
Popal, on the other hand, admits that he may never return home. “I know of cases of parents and siblings of players who have been beaten by their neighbors for allowing their daughters to play. Once the Taliban arrived, the homes of people linked to football were burned down. “When the Taliban first fell, many women were given opportunities to participate in sports, but society was not well educated in explaining what we were doing. And we have always been hated by a lot of people.” , he complains.
Taliban officials say they have not banned women from playing sports, although cultural committee member Ahramadullah Wasiq told the Australian press that “sports can be used in sports. situations where a woman’s face or body parts are not covered, and this is not possible in Islam. ” According to Popal, “they lie to the foreign press to offer a more moderate image. But I keep receiving messages from women athletes who want to escape from there anyway, there are still women athletes who have not been able to leave.” According to Popal, “we helped them play sports, we told them the West would not leave them alone. They have competed, they have challenged hatred, they have shown leadership, they are brave. Now we cannot leave them without opportunities.” For now, Afghan women’s football is back in training, far from Herat, far from Kabul. He does it in Leeds, waiting to know what the future holds for a generation that has made sport a central part of his life.
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