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Football: Afghan women's team to wear first kit with integrated hijab
the Afghan Football Federation and Danish sportswear brand hummel are teaming up to present a new national team shirt which gives a double reason to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Throughout the decades playing football has been a struggle for girls and women in Afghanistan, but today the Afghan Football Federation and Danish sportswear brand hummel are teaming up to present a new national team shirt which gives a double reason to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Crafted by hummel, the innovative women’s kit – which will be launched simultaneously with a new kit for the Afghan men’s team - includes an integrated hijab which will not only aid the performance of the country’s female footballers but also allow them to compete on an equal footing with international sides from across the world.
hummel’s kit allows the country’s women to perform while being covered from head-to-toe without compromising performance. The hijab itself forms part of a baselayer shirt and is the first to ever be included as a standard feature in an international shirt.
The overall design for the Afghanistan men’s and women’s kit incorporates the very best of the country’s heritage and traditions. The Afghan Lions adorn the front of both new shirts and have been designed to reflect the calligraphy and word carving for which the country is synonymous. The sleeve and hem design, meanwhile, has been inspired by the traditional dress of Afghanistan.
It is a kit that aids performance – but above all it is one that symbolises the very best of Afghanistan's past while simultaneously giving hope for a brighter future.
Former Afghanistan national women’s team captain, Khalida Popal, is well aware of the meaning and significance attached to the shirt.
She made more than 20 appearances for her country before a knee injury forced her premature retirement. Popal now lives in Denmark but is still heavily connected with the Afghanistan national team through their tie-in with hummel and part of the brand’s mission to Change the World through Sport.
“For a country like Afghanistan, wearing the national uniform, is a kind of power, a tool to give confidence for a woman,” she said. “That makes you feel powerful.”
“It was a huge honour to captain my country but it was an even bigger honour to be seen as a role model and an inspiration for thousands of young girls and women in Afghanistan.
“I think the Afghanistan women’s team shows the huge potential football has as a unifying force.
I like to think that we have given a lot of women in our country fresh hope."
hummel owner Christian Stadil said: "At hummel we firmly believe that if you want to create positive change, you have to meet people as well as nations and cultures, where they are. So, if we want to create positive change for women in Afghanistan we have to meet them where they are.
Many of these women have to or want to wear a hijab, and that's why we have chosen to make a very cool and very fashionable sports hijab for these great girls of Afghanistan.”
hummel will donate 15 euros to the Afghan women’s team for each shirt sold.
