‘It’s heartbreaking’: Malala Yousafzai meets exiled Afghanistan women’s football team

The Women’s World Cup may be over, but the many issues underpinning the women’s game remain. From the fight of the Nigeria players to be paid for their participation and South Africa’s team boycotting a warm-up match in protest at pay and conditions, to England’s Lionesses battling for performance‑related bonuses as well as Spanish players withdrawing before the tournament over frustrations with the culture around the team, players used the biggest stage to push for change.

One team unable to do that, though, denied the right even to have a chance at competing on the world stage, should not be forgotten. The Afghanistan women’s national team was evacuated from the country after the withdrawal of US and Nato troops and the Taliban takeover in 2021. Since then, those players, women that fought for their survival, left their families and were resettled in Australia, have rebuilt their lives and their team in Melbourne. Football put them at great risk; it also saved them.

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Except while they have continued playing, competing in Australia’s seventh tier as Melbourne Victory AWT, they have been blocked from competing internationally by a system that refuses to recognise a team not sanctioned by its national federation, one that operates in conjunction with Taliban rulers who refuse to allow women any role in public life, let alone sport. Unable to be formally recognised by Fifa, they have been stripped of the tool they used to push back against oppression.

Support for the team has come from many corners of the world and in Australia the players met one of their biggest advocates in the shape of Malala Yousafzai, the education activist and recipient of the Nobel peace prize who was shot by a member of the Pakistani Taliban when she was 15.

“I feel so happy and grateful for her,” says Khalida Popal, who cofounded the national team and helped evacuate players from Afghanistan in 2021. “It is the perfect dream team coming together, because of our histories, because of our losses, because of our shared enemy.

“You feel hopeful when you meet people who genuinely care. The players really enjoyed meeting her. Sometimes you feel so lonely when you fight against an empire like Fifa. You feel so tired. You feel like you’re screaming but it’s too big, the building is too tall, and nobody can hear. When you find someone like Malala standing with you, bold and loud in making a statement and calling out Fifa, asking: ‘Which side are you standing on, are you standing with women, with female footballers or the Taliban?’ you feel hopeful.”

More than 170,000 people have signed a petition calling for Fifa to recognise the exiled Afghan team in less than a month. “I read about Khalida’s story and the story of the evacuation of the Afghan women’s football team,” says Malala.

“It was heartbreaking to know that [they] were burning or burying their kits because they didn’t want the Taliban to find out that they had played sports, something that they were once so proud of and known for.

“Their lives were at risk. So it was a bit of a relief to know that they were evacuated, but at the same time it was heartbreaking that they went through all of this. It was not just these women losing a dream, but also the future generation of Afghan girls losing any dream of being involved in sports.

“Right now we know that the Taliban are denying women and girls the right to education, the right to work, and the right to participate in any activity or public life. So, it’s completely unimaginable for women to be in sports in Afghanistan right now.

“What’s more heartbreaking is that, while women’s sports is gaining popularity around the world, we have a team from Afghanistan who cannot play for their country because of some technicalities or some rules. I think it is so important for Fifa, for our world leaders, for those who are in positions of responsibility, to open their eyes and ensure that they recognise that there is gender discrimination happening there.

“That because of this completely anti-women government there is no future for women’s sports. So if they don’t take action, Afghan women will not see a future in sports for themselves. I hope that they step up and they stick to their bold commitment of gender equity, and they ensure that they take action in this case and help the Afghan women’s team to be able to play for their country.”

Malala’s relationship to sport is not a new one. She played cricket and badminton as a child with her brothers, on the streets or rooftops, but, like many, couldn’t see a place for her in sport as she grew older. “I’m one of the many girls who just missed the opportunity,” she says.

“But it didn’t mean that I had to give up on sports completely in my life. I was very lucky that I married a guy who had worked in sports. So sports came back into my life. I’ve been learning pickleball and golf, and I’ve taken tennis lessons as well. I love cricket passionately and I’ve been following football.

“In the last year, I went to watch women’s tennis at Wimbledon, netball games, women’s football games and women’s cricket games. It showed me how much there is for women in sports right now and this market is growing. That gives me much hope for this current generation of young women but also for future generations of girls as well.”

Malala applauds the stand of Cricket Australia, which boycotted a match against the Afghanistan men’s team over the country’s lack of women’s rights. “I really appreciate that Cricket Australia took a step and they decided not to play with the men’s team of Afghanistan,” she says. “When such stances are taken, it’s important for other countries to join. What has been really disappointing is that other countries are not stepping up and joining this collective call, where they are saying: we will only play with the men’s team if you allow the women’s team to play with the women’s teams. I think that’s a fair call. I think that’s an important call as well. Because what happens is that if people and countries normalise the fact that it’s OK for men to play and it’s OK for women to be banned from playing, it will continue as it is.

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“Some countries are normalising their trade relations with Afghanistan and just completely ignoring the fact that there is what a lot of the international leaders, including the UN, are calling a gender apartheid in Afghanistan. There is a gender apartheid in the country where women are completely secluded and separated from public life and they are denied the human rights from education, to work, to playing sports. So, we have to step up, because if it’s something that is happening right in front of our eyes, and it’s really hard to process that this is the reality.”

Her message to Fifa is simple. She says: “If the Taliban were not in power, Afghanistan would have gotten a chance to participate in qualifying for the World Cup. But the fact that the Taliban are in power, that they do not allow women to play, the fact that women are under threat, that they cannot even live in their country, tells you that the story is now different.

“This is the reality that we are living in right now, and we have to acknowledge it. And I am so glad that the Afghan women, especially those who come from the sports world, are stepping up and they’re raising their voice and they have been calling on leaders and the international community and Fifa to allow the Afghan women’s team to be able to play. I feel lucky to be in a place to be able to support them as well.”