In Morocco, exiled Afghan women footballers find hope on the pitch

CASABLANCA: Manoozh Noori said she “wanted to die” when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. That meant she could no longer do what she loved most: playing football.
Noori, now 22, fled the country where the United Nations say authorities have implemented a “gender apartheid,” and has been playing in a team of Afghan refugee women, recently taking part in a first-of-its-kind tournament in Morocco.
“I had asked myself: do I want to stay in this country with people who want to forbid women from studying, from playing football, from doing anything?” Noori told AFP.
The Taliban authorities, who say that women’s rights are protected by Islamic law, have banned girls and women from schools beyond the age of 12, and also from most jobs and public services — and from playing sports.
Noori had defied family pressure to represent Afghanistan professionally by playing for the country’s national women’s squad before a Taliban government returned to power.
She said she buried her trophies and medals in her family’s backyard and left the country for Australia.
Noori’s team, Afghan Women United, was formed between Europe and Australia, where other teammates have also been living since 2021.

- ‘A beautiful story’ -

The team played their first international matches at the FIFA Unites: Women’s Series late last month in Morocco — and Noori scored the team’s first goal in the opening game against Chad.
They went on to lose both to Chad and Tunisia although they registered a big 7-0 win against Libya. But the tournament overall was a major win for the Afghan women.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who attended one of their games, described their participation as “a beautiful story” that the women were writing “for so many