{"id":652631,"date":"2026-05-06T05:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652631\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T05:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:23:12","slug":"afghanistan-womens-football-player-mina-ahmadi-says-justice-is-served-after-fifa-rule-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652631\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan women’s football player Mina Ahmadi says ‘justice is served’ after FIFA rule change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Afghanistan women’s national team footballer Mina Ahmadi says “justice has been served” after FIFA last week announced a change to its governance regulations<\/a> to allow the team to compete in official international games.<\/p>\n

The team has been barred from international competition since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and banned sport for women and girls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many players subsequently fled the country, with the majority now living in Australia.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Afghan Women United team was formed<\/a> and competed in a friendly tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Afghan Women United returned to international football last year in an unofficial series in Morocco. (FIFA via Getty Images: Mahmoud Khaled)<\/p>\n

But under previous FIFA rules, the exiled players were unable to represent their national side in official matches without the approval of the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan Football Federation.<\/p>\n

However, a change to those rules now allows FIFA to register a national team for official competitions when its home member association is “unable to do so”.<\/p>\n

Ahmadi said the announcement was a “happy moment” after “working and trying so hard for so long”.<\/p>\n

“It was a very emotional moment for the whole team,” Ahmadi told ABC Weekend Breakfast.<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

“It’s a very historical moment for every single one of us.<\/p>\n

“It’s big for us, and it’s big for Afghan girls.”<\/p>\n

Ahmadi said the Taliban takeover had forced most of the team to “leave whatever we had behind”.<\/p>\n

“We had to leave what we had built before and were working towards, move to a different country, and start everything from zero,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But the hardest part was, even though we were trying so hard, we still weren’t recognised to play internationally or represent our country.”<\/p>\n

Ahmadi hoped the victory would bring solace to women and girls living under Taliban rule back home.<\/p>\n

“My message right now is that even though this amendment is not going to change anything for them inside Afghanistan, we will be working hard to be their voice as we go.”<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Players want to continue campaigning for the rights of their countrywomen who remain in Afghanistan. (FIFA via Getty Images: Mahmoud Khaled)<\/p>\n

Former captain Khalida Popal was hopeful for the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Our collective advocacy has not only changed the future for Afghan women, but also ensured that no other national team has to sacrifice what our players did,” she said in a joint statement with the team, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Sport and Rights Alliance.<\/p>\n

“This is the rebirth of hope and a strong message to those who try to erase women from society: you will not succeed. Women belong on the pitch, in public life, and everywhere decisions are made.”<\/p>\n

Team building towards LA Olympics<\/p>\n

Despite the rule change, the timing of FIFA’s announcement means Afghanistan’s national women’s team will be unable to qualify for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, to be held in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Afghan women return to international football<\/a><\/p>\n

After four years in exile, some of Afghanistan’s female footballers have returned to the pitch, giving hope to those still in the country, fighting for basic rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, the team will set its sights on taking part in the qualifiers for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.<\/p>\n

“It’s what we’ve been looking forward to so much, and we’re excited to compete in the [Olympic qualifiers],” Ahmadi said.<\/p>\n

“That’s our next step, and we will be working so hard to get there.”<\/p>\n

The team’s players are spread across the globe, in countries including Albania, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States, but will come together in June for a two-match series in New Zealand, against the Cook Islands.<\/p>\n

“It’s a great experience for the team going forward,” Ahmadi said.<\/p>\n

“FIFA recognising us again just means that what we’ve worked towards for so long is finally giving us a reward.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Afghanistan women’s national team footballer Mina Ahmadi says “justice has been served” after FIFA last week announced a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[315645,315646,117878,64,63,13201,117882,315647,85],"class_list":["post-652631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-afghan-women-football","tag-afghan-women-soccer","tag-afghan-womens-refugee-team","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fifa","tag-khalida-popal","tag-mina-ahmadi","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}