Afghanistan’s women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt – DW – 10/20/2025

More than a week after arriving in Dubai for their first FIFA-recognized match after being deported by the Taliban, Afghanistan’s women soccer players are still in limbo after their entry visas were repeatedly rejected.

The Afghanistan women’s refugee team was set to play its first match since 2021 against Chad on Thursday, October 23, 2025.

The game is part of a four-team tournament billed as the “FIFA Unites Women’s Series 2025”.

But instead the Afghanistan women’s team was turned away from airports on several occasions and FIFA provided no information on whether the tournament would go ahead.

The flight time from Australia to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where most of the team is based, is approximately 14 hours, and with visas still not resolved, it seems unlikely that the original tournament schedule can be kept.

Yet it is still on the FIFA website and world football’s governing body has not provided any decision or information.

Human rights lawyer Alison Battison helped players escape Afghanistan in 2021 and then assisted them with their documentation to stay in Australia.

Although FIFA is not currently allowing players to speak publicly, Battison said the mood among them is understandable.

‘Abandonment, trauma and disillusionment’

“Without mentioning any specific players, I think you can say there is a general atmosphere of abandonment, shock and disillusionment,” he told DW.

“The history of this team is such that it’s really not just about sports. It’s about women’s rights and the freedom to be who they can be, especially for Afghan women, but also for women in other repressed societies. There’s a lot of pressure on these women to succeed, to prove that they shouldn’t just come back to the kitchen and have kids.”

The Taliban is brutally oppressing women, especially targeting those who play sports. In such a situation, the football team’s playing in the FIFA tournament was considered an important step.

Battison, who deals with these types of visa issues for refugees on a daily basis, said the job of issuing the visas would have fallen to FIFA, but they were likely blocked by the UAE, who could sit on applications indefinitely.

DW has contacted FIFA for clarification on this matter and several other issues but has not yet received a response.

Afghanistan refugee women's team players posing wearing kit on a pitch in Melbourne
A team made up of refugees from Afghanistan plays in the Australian Regional LeagueImage: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

“It’s incredibly strange that you would have a FIFA-organised event in the UAE, featuring a UAE team, and then the entity that is hosting it and has the power to issue visas has not done the same for a team. So there has to be something much bigger than the women’s game.”

UAE is one of the few countries to recognize Taliban

Again, there has been no communication or denial regarding this from FIFA or any other official source.

However, the UAE is one of the few countries to recognize the Taliban at the diplomatic level. The Gulf state accepted the qualifications of the Taliban-appointed diplomat as Afghanistan’s ambassador in 2024 and earlier this year welcomed Taliban Foreign Affairs Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi to the country.

The UAE also has a large Afghan expatriate population of about 300,000 in the country of about 10 million people. It is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention.

The lack of concrete information about why Afghan players’ visa applications were rejected and whether the tournament will still go ahead – even at a later date – has left them in a bad position.

“There’s cultural embarrassment for the women themselves, because they’re built on these rays of hope and a lot of people are against them. It just gives ammunition to people who doubted them.”

Members of the Taliban government sit around a table with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan
UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (right) has regularly met with members of the Taliban governmentImage: Abdullah al-Bedawi/AFP

Battison has spent thousands of dollars on travel and accommodations to attend the tournament as a fan, but now he likely won’t be able to watch any football. He said he couldn’t find a way to actually buy tickets for the opening match.

She said, “I’m going to fly 14 hours to miss the game and stay overnight in the players’ quarters where there will be no players and then wake up early and fly out. So it probably won’t be the greatest trip of my life.”

The damage is beyond the game

But he said their financial losses were negligible compared to the plight of the players.

“These women are not getting paid, so they all have jobs or are in school. Many of them have the best English in their families and the most secure jobs in their families. So taking time away from work and from education impacts not only them, but their families as well.”

Afghan football players get safe haven in Australia

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The human rights lawyer said that, in some cases, players’ families did not support their decision to play football and that their decision to do so still means they are “targeted” by the Taliban.

“Having that happen to women when they go to their first major tournament really emboldens people who doubt them. Is it worthwhile to separate families? Well, at the moment, no. There are other questions about settling in Australia and the UK and other places, but when the basis of it was sport, it’s a very serious and psychologically bad situation.”

What happens next is unclear. While FIFA has remained silent, there have been some reports that, given their failure to cancel or postpone, the organization is considering moving the tournament elsewhere, with Qatar and Jordan being mentioned.

Battison believes this would be a mistake, with security issues for players and their families the primary concern and arrangements for travel, training and visas impossible.

No matter what happens, the wait and uncertainty continues for a group of players who endured a lot to get to this point.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

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