Dhe Afghanistan women’s national soccer team has played its first game since fleeing the Taliban-ruled country last year. As reported by the Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald, the women were admitted to an Australian amateur league with the support of A-League club Melbourne Victory. “A special moment in club history,” the club tweeted after the goalless draw with ETA Buffalo Club of Victoria.
The team is now an unofficial team in exile after the players were rescued from Kabul, the Sydney Morning Herald wrote. In Afghanistan, they feared reprisals from the Taliban regime because it refused to allow women to take part in sports. “The best thing about that day was that the girls could play together. They had a lot of fun as a group and they’re playing football again as a group now,” said coach Jeff Hopkins.
The team played in red jerseys, which displayed the numbers and the national flag of Afghanistan but not the names of the players. “It’s about our identity, we want to protect our families,” said Captain Fatima, according to the Australian news service “SBS News”. Accordingly, some were accrued under their first names, others under nicknames.
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