VANCOUVER: An Afghanistan women’s refugee team have been granted eligibility for international competitions, some five years after national team players fled their country’s Taliban rule. The FIFA Council, meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, agreed on Tuesday to amend its regulations to recognize the refugee team, which play under the name Afghan Women United. While it is too late for the refugee team to try to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, they could participate in qualification for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. “We are proud of the beautiful journey initiated by Afghan Women United, and with this initiative we aim to enable them, as well as other FIFA member associations that may not be able to register a national or representative team for a FIFA competition, to make the next step, in coordination with the relevant confederation,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. The first move toward recognition came last October, when the Afghan refugees played in a tournament that included Chad, Libya and Tunisia in Morocco. That event followed years of lobbying on the team’s behalf by players, former captain and activist Khalida Popal and human rights groups. “For five years, we were told the Afghanistan women’s national team could never compete again because the men who took our country would not allow it,” Popal said in a statement.
