A national soccer team without a home

On the football pitches of Bundesliga club Wolfsburg, the Afghanistan women’s national team is training and doing exactly what is strictly forbidden in their home country: playing football.

In the first session of the day, the coaches’ main focus is helping the players get to know each other better and have fun. That’s because, as of April of this year, these young women are now officially allowed to play football as the Afghan national team.

FIFA, the world’s football federation, has amended its regulations, allowing Afghan women to once again represent their country in official international matches and FIFA competitions.

“This was a huge victory for us, a wonderful moment, and one of the moments we’re most proud of. Because once again, the women of our country have made history and brought about change,” Khalida Popal told DW. The former captain and founder of the organization Girl Power has been a pioneer for women’s football in her country.

Karimi: ‘I’m incredibly proud’

Since the Taliban took power in 2021, the players and Popal have fought for the recognition that has now become a reality.

“I’m incredibly proud that we can now officially play as a national team,” said midfielder Maryam Karimi.

For Karimi, who has been living in Portugal since fleeing Afghanistan, FIFA’s decision is more than just a formality.

“I hope that one day we’ll be able to play in Afghanistan again with this team.”

Until then, however, Afghanistan remains a national team without a home.

“We’ll probably be one of the first national teams in history that has no home and no country in which to play,” said Popal. “We’ll compete from exile and represent our country.”

Today, the players are scattered across the world. Many have traveled from England, Italy, Portugal or Germany, but some have also found refuge in Australia.

“We come from different countries and can’t play together regularly. But when I see the players, they’re incredibly united. They keep going and push each other forward,” said Karimi.

Gaining More Visibility Through Football

The 39-year-old Popal wants to use her experience to help the players and advance their athletic development. She wants the national team to be known not only for what was taken from them, but also for what it achieves on the field.

“The first goal, of course, is to build a strong team that performs well on the field,” said Popal. “Because the better we play, the better we can represent our country, and the more visible we’ll become.”

But that is precisely where the biggest challenge currently lies. In Afghanistan itself, a regular system for women’s football cannot be established at this time. As long as the Taliban are in power, women are not allowed to play sports.

So there is nowhere for young talent to be nurtured; there is no funding and no support from the country the players represent. This is because the Afghan Football Federation — unlike FIFA — does not recognize the women’s team. For the time being, therefore, the team’s future must be built outside the country.

“We have no federation and no country where talent can develop,” said Popal. That is why the team relies heavily on the Afghan diaspora. There, the team is looking for players who may never have played for a club in Afghanistan, but who could represent their parents’ country in the future.

Popal: ‘The Taliban are erasing women from society’

To organize football camps like these, the women rely on outside support. The summer 2026 camp was made possible by an invitation from Volkswagen and Wolfsburg, but Popal and her organization still have a lot of work ahead of them. 

Giving players who have fled Afghanistan a place back in international football is one part of the challenge, but so is creating structures and a foundation on which Afghan women’s football can be built.

“It will be a team that stands up to the Taliban. Because the Taliban are erasing women from society,” said Popal.

“We will play football to stand up for the women of our country. When the players take the field, they’re also playing for those women in Afghanistan who aren’t allowed to.”

Just like the former captain, the other young women on the team feel the same way. Midfielder Karimi wants to use football to draw more attention to her friends and all the women in her homeland.

“I can make my voice heard through the way I play football,” Karimi said. “I can make my voice heard from the field.”

Popal: “These girls are our future”

Despite a long battle for the human rights taken away from women by the Taliban, Popal keeps pushing because she wants to make sure that the women wearing the national team’s jersey today are not the last generation to do so.

“I believe that Afghanistan won’t stay this way forever. These dark days will pass. These girls will be the next coaches of the Afghan women’s national team, the next directors of football academies, the next president, or the next ministers of our country,” said Popal.

“And that is exactly why we are investing in these girls: because they are the future.”

This article was originally published in German.

Edited by: Matt Pearson