How Afghanistan women’s football teammade it to Australia’s 2016 Olympic women’s football qualifiers
This report from AFADeport sees Australia’s women’s national soccer team playing a key role in the development of Afghan women’s football.
The Australian women’s national soccer team has played a significant role in the development of women’s football in Afghanistan. And with the team’s success in the Olympic qualifiers, an Afghan women’s association football team can now look forward to playing against the best teams in the world – one of them Australia.
AFADeport has reported on women’s football in Afghanistan on a number of occasions, including a series of reports on the national team that play under the code of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. But the team’s remarkable run to qualify for the Olympics, and the continued progress of Afghan women’s football, are the result of a collaborative effort involving women’s football associations from Australia as well as Afghanistan, Qatar, and Pakistan.
The AFADeport team’s report on Australia’s women’s soccer team is part of an international coverage of the Olympics that we are producing for AFADeport.
Women’s Afghan football team goes from strength to strength
In a country where women are often described as little more than the property of their fathers (and husbands), the emergence of Afghan women’s football has been a source of pride for women living in the country (and around the world).
Women’s football is also gaining a reputation as a sport for developing girls, and has already helped increase participation in the sport through the creation of women’s football clubs.
“Women’s football has been growing at a very steady rate and it seems a sport for everyone now,” says Asmaa Hamayani, the national women’s football team coordinator. “We are getting a lot of girls playing it now. We are seeing a lot of girls playing football in schools and colleges.”
“We have noticed a huge increase in girls playing football in schools and colleges, which has been really exciting to see,” Hamayani added. “But it