Afghanistan women’s soccer players flee Taliban, make debut in Australia – NewsTicker

According to the Australian newspaper “The Sydney Morning Herald”, women were admitted to the Australian Amateur League with the support of A-League club Melbourne Victory. “A special moment in the history of the club,” the club tweeted after a goalless draw with ETA Buffalo Club of Victoria.

The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that after the players were rescued from Kabul, the team is now an unofficial team deported. In Afghanistan, they feared retaliation from the Taliban regime because it did not allow women to participate in sports. “The best thing of the day was that the girls were able to play together. They had so much fun as a team and they are now playing football as a team again,” said coach Jeff Hopkins.

The team played in a red jersey that showed the numbers and the national flag of Afghanistan, but no names of the players. “It’s about our identity, we want to protect our families,” Capt. Fatima told the Australian news service SBS News. Some of them went by their first names and others by nicknames.

Source: dpa