Let Afghan Women Compete in Sport

Speaking Out for Afghan Women in Sport

Nobel Peace Prize lau­re­ate and glob­al edu­ca­tion activist Malala Yousafzai is once again urg­ing the world not to for­get the women and girls of Afghanistan; this time, through the lens of sport. In a recent inter­view with CNN Sports, she called on inter­na­tion­al sports orga­ni­za­tions to show “brav­ery and courage” by active­ly sup­port­ing Afghan female ath­letes forced into exile under Tal­iban rule.

“These play­ers deserve the chance to com­pete,” Yousafzai said. “Empow­er­ing Afghan women to play sports is a pow­er­ful form of resis­tance.”

A Country Where Women Have Been Silenced

Since the Tal­iban returned to pow­er in 2021, women’s rights in Afghanistan have been sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly dis­man­tled. Girls are banned from attend­ing sec­ondary school and uni­ver­si­ty; women are pro­hib­it­ed from enter­ing gyms or parks, and even basic mobil­i­ty often requires a male chap­er­one. The Unit­ed Nations has described Afghanistan as the most repres­sive coun­try in the world for women.

In this envi­ron­ment, par­tic­i­pa­tion in sport has become impos­si­ble. Female ath­letes who once rep­re­sent­ed their coun­try on the inter­na­tion­al stage now live in exile, their careers and basic free­doms put on hold.

Soccer Team in Exile, Recognition Still Denied

One such group is the Afghan women’s nation­al soc­cer team, now based in Aus­tralia. The team fled Afghanistan in 2021 and has con­tin­ued to train and com­pete, but with­out offi­cial recog­ni­tion from FIFA.

Yousafzai met the team dur­ing the 2023 Women’s World Cup and was struck by the con­trast. “It was heart­break­ing,” she said. “We were cel­e­brat­ing women’s soc­cer glob­al­ly, yet this team could not even play in their own coun­try.”

FIFA recent­ly announced a new Strat­e­gy for Action for Afghan Women’s Foot­ball and hopes to estab­lish a refugee team as soon as pos­si­ble. While wel­comed, the plan stops short of grant­i­ng full recog­ni­tion. Afghan play­er Mur­sal Sadat said, “We’ve already missed two World Cups. This strat­e­gy doesn’t change that.”

Cricket Follows Slowly

The Inter­na­tion­al Crick­et Coun­cil (ICC) has also tak­en steps, launch­ing a task force in April and cre­at­ing a fund to sup­port dis­placed Afghan women crick­eters. But crit­ics say more deci­sive action is need­ed. Human Rights Watch has even called for a ban on Afghanistan’s men’s crick­et team until women and girls are once again allowed to par­tic­i­pate in edu­ca­tion and sport.

The ICC has not com­ment­ed pub­licly on the issue.

A Call for Global Courage

Yousafzai, her­self a sur­vivor of an assas­si­na­tion attempt by the Pak­istani Tal­iban, knows the cost of speak­ing out. At 17, she became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize win­ner. Today, she’s using her plat­form to advo­cate for those whose voic­es are being silenced in Afghanistan.

“There’s so much that can be done for Afghan women in exile,” she said. “Play­ing sport, prac­tic­ing their rights — these are acts of brav­ery and resis­tance.”

Through her new ini­tia­tive Recess, launched with her hus­band Ass­er Malik, Yousafzai is invest­ing in women’s sports and sto­ry­telling as tools for change. And she’s urg­ing orga­ni­za­tions like FIFA and the ICC to do the same.

“These insti­tu­tions must stop hid­ing behind bureau­cra­cy,” she said. “In the end, sport belongs to the ath­letes. Our job is to find ways to let them play.”