By Max Feliu, CNN
(CNN) — For nearly five years, dozens of Afghanistan’s women soccer players have lived in exile — scattered across Australia, the United States and Europe — unable to officially represent their country’s national team. A landmark amendment to the regulations of soccer’s worldwide governing body is set to change that.
The ruling Tuesday by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) allows Afghan female players to compete as the Afghanistan women’s national team in official international matches for the first time with full sporting recognition.
The decision, issued at a FIFA Council meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, rewrites a long-standing rule that required FIFA to recognize a national team through the country’s own soccer federation. Afghanistan’s federation, operating under Taliban influence since the radical Islamist group returned to power in 2021, has refused to acknowledge the women’s program, effectively keeping its female players off the international pitch.
The amendment gives FIFA’s council the power to establish or approve a national team registration under exceptional circumstances, specifically to protect players from being excluded from international soccer due to situations beyond their control.
“This is a powerful and unprecedented step in world sport,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “By enabling Afghan women to compete for their country in official matches, we are turning principles into action.”
CNN has reached out to the Taliban-led Afghan government for comment.
A women’s team in exile
The team, which has played under the name Afghan Women United as a FIFA-supported refugee squad, has been pushing for this decision since the Taliban swept back into power and immediately suspended organized women’s sports across the country. Players were forced into hiding, their equipment and medals buried or abandoned, before a coordinated evacuation — led in part by former team captain and activist Khalida Popal — brought dozens of players out of the country.
What followed was years of fighting not just for the right to play but for FIFA to designate the group as Afghanistan’s official women’s national team. CNN reported in October that players had grown frustrated with the “refugee” label that defined their squad.
“We are tired of getting called refugee,” player Zainab Mozaffari told CNN Sports. Tuesday’s ruling directly addresses that grievance.
The team took its first tentative steps back onto the international stage in October, competing in an unofficial FIFA-organized tournament in Morocco.
“For these players, representing Afghanistan is about identity, dignity and hope,” Popal said in a statement Tuesday. “This moment also shows that when we stand united, we can achieve more.”
The change comes too late for Afghanistan to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, but the team could now enter qualifying for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. A training camp is scheduled for the first week of June in New Zealand, where the team will face the Cook Islands. FIFA has committed to providing financial, technical and human support for up to two years through the transition.
The governance amendment is also broader than one country, setting a precedent that could apply to any national federation that discriminates against its own players in the future.
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