Vancouver — FIFA has approved a rule change that allows Afghan women footballers living in exile to take part in official international matches in FIFA competitions, offering a route back into the international game after years of enforced absence.
Afghanistan’s women’s national team has not played a competitive international since before the Taliban regained control in 2021. Since then, sweeping restrictions on girls and women — including on education, work and sport — have forced many female athletes to flee the country or give up competing.
The decision builds on FIFA’s Strategy for Action for Afghan Women’s Football, which the FIFA Council endorsed last year, and on the creation of Afghan Women United, a FIFA-supported initiative that gives structured playing opportunities to Afghan women footballers living outside Afghanistan.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the organisation is proud of the progress made through Afghan Women United and wants to enable those players — and other cases where a member association cannot register a national or representative team for a FIFA competition — to take the next step in coordination with the relevant confederation.
The selection phase for the next Afghan Women United squad is already underway. FIFA has been holding regional selection camps in England and Australia and has provided individual support packages to almost 90 players. The team is expected to play during the June women’s international window; details on opponents and venues will be announced.
Khalida Popal, founder of Afghanistan’s women’s national soccer team, attended the 36th AFC Annual Congress in Vancouver on April 28, 2026, underscoring the ongoing international efforts to support the players.
In 2021 FIFA assisted the evacuation of more than 160 at-risk players, officials and human rights defenders connected to football and basketball in Afghanistan. Advocates for women’s football have long urged FIFA to formally recognise and support Afghan players in exile, arguing they should not be denied the chance to pursue international careers because of restrictions imposed inside their country.
