Afghan women’s football team to play an official match after 7 years

FIFA announced on Wednesday that Afghanistan's national women's football team was ready for its first official matches since 2018. The refugee squad will participate in a four-team tournament in Dubai from October 23 to 29.

The United Arab Emirates, Chad and Libya are the other teams that will compete in the tournament, which is part of the FIFA Unites: Women's Series initiative.

At least 32 women footballers from Afghanistan had fled the country in late 2021 after the militant organisation Taliban took control of the Asian country.

Taliban bans women from from training or participating in sports. The UN says the Taliban does not allow women to study beyond Class 6 and appear in public places such as parks, gyms and sports clubs.

The global football body said "the historic four-team women’s football event reinforces FIFA’s efforts to promote and protect the right of all women and girls to play the sport, pursue their footballing dreams and thrive through the game".

FIFA said all games at the round-robin tournament will be broadcast live on its in-house streaming platform.