FIFA's recognition of Afghanistan women's soccer team doesn't go far enough

Shireen Ahmed · CBC Sports

· Posted: May 13, 2025 12:23 PM EDT | Last Updated: 17 minutes ago

Mother's Day was celebrated by Canadian shot done a assortment of events and activities astatine NSL matches this weekend. Not lone recognizing the interaction that women marque connected the transportation but disconnected it and successful wider society. It was besides a motion to each women moving successful shot and the ways successful which we belong.

Calgary Wild's Sonia O'Neil had a tiny locker setup for her girl beside hers successful their locker country astatine the location opener. 

I attended the AFC Toronto versus Vancouver Rise lucifer successful Toronto and adjacent took my girl (with support of the club) due to the fact that it was Mother's Day. It was not the archetypal clip 1 of my children has been beside maine portion I'm working, but to beryllium covering a nonrecreational women's lucifer and person her determination was amazing. 

The league offering this benignant of enactment sets an important precedent. In a erstwhile interrogation with NSL president Christina Litz, she told maine that this league embraces babies oregon pets astatine meetings. They recognize and admit the galore roles that women mightiness have. 

The inclusion of women successful planetary shot should not beryllium a polarizing oregon divisive issue. But O'Neill's Calgary Wild teammate, Farkhunda Muhtaj, has a antithetic experience. 

Muhtaj, the Wild's archetypal signing, is besides the skipper of the Afghanistan elder women's nationalist team. When the Taliban took implicit successful 2021, each enactment stopped. With power of the Afghanistan Football Federation, the Taliban banned girls and women from sports. The concern was dire. Muhtaj helped evacuate much than 80 people, including members of the inferior nationalist squad. Since then, Muhtaj has been engaged successful galore conversations focused connected however to safely and sustainably restart the nationalist program. 

Khalida Popal, the team's founder, fled Afghanistan successful 2011. Since past she has organized and managed the squad from Denmark, wherever she present lives. She besides assisted successful hundreds of evacuations of Afghans. She wrote a publication astir the harrowing experiences of her teammates and their families. 

Popal has been lobbying FIFA to formally admit the squad (the players unrecorded abroad) truthful they tin play successful World Cup qualifiers and successful tournaments successful the Asian confederation. The players person already mislaid retired connected years of eligibility and enactment owed to a deficiency of enactment by FIFA. 

"It has been much than 3 years that I've been sending emails with the enactment of antithetic organizations, to get [a] effect from FIFA, to get FIFA connected board, to collaborate with us," Popal told CBC radio's As It Happens.

Last week, successful the aforesaid gathering that FIFA voted to grow the Women's World Cup tourney to 48 teams successful 2031, FIFA yet recognized the Afghan women's nationalist team, but lone arsenic a exile team. This means that they tin only play friendlies. It's considered by immoderate to beryllium partial recognition. 

"This is simply a impermanent solution and is not ideal, but it's an important start," Muhtaj told maine implicit substance message. "Reinstating the authoritative Afghanistan women's nationalist squad volition instrumentality time, and it's important we stay respectful of however this affects the information of others and diligent arsenic FIFA navigates however champion to enactment Afghan women nether analyzable and challenging circumstances."

It's a crisp opposition to see women being lauded and elevated successful Canada arsenic planetary women's shot continues to scope caller heights, portion Afghan shot players astatine location and overseas don't person the luxury of afloat participating.

Since the Taliban authorities took over, sports for girls person been eliminated in Kabul, a metropolis that erstwhile boasted palmy programs similar Skateistan, and had a league for women's shot and cricket teams. 

Ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, determination was an outcry from immoderate Afghans for the International Olympic Committee to prohibition Taliban-controlled Afghanistan from the Olympics due to the fact that of gender apartheid. 

WATCH | Farkhunda Muhtaj and her almighty travel done Ramadan and sport:

This latest effort seems to beryllium addressing the contented without offering a existent solution. Yes, the concern is analyzable and FIFA really requires the AFF to person the women's squad enactment astatine a afloat level. 

But giving a misogynist authorities the prime to fto women and girls play is perfectly other to what the tone of the beauteous crippled is expected to be. And does that adjacent align with FIFA's ain mandates connected sex equity? Short answer: no. 

Allowing women to vie successful a peculiar and restricted acceptable of circumstances doesn't ringing of liberation and state of play. In fact, it seems similar the proposal isn't connected target. To usage shot vernacular: the changeable is going wide. 

There isn't a mode to get backmost the clip that women and girls person mislaid from sports and activity. But arsenic the remainder of the satellite moves guardant astatine lightning speed, embracing mothers arsenic players, officials, media members and squad executives and staff, the region betwixt america and Afghan women volition summation — and possibly volition go insurmountable. 

As I, and galore women, consciousness the joyousness and excitement and anticipation for the aboriginal of girls' and women's shot successful Canada and beyond, I can't assistance but beryllium truthful profoundly discouraged by FIFA. They, on with different governing bodies, person not figured retired however precisely to navigate this concern and make a abstraction that let's women not lone exist, but thrive successful sport. 

"I'm grateful that FIFA has been listening to us," Muhtaj said. "And is approaching this process with taste sensitivity, geopolitical awareness, and a genuine effort for america to instrumentality to the pitch." 

A instrumentality to the transportation is urgent indeed. Before we suffer different procreation of girls to this madness.