How Afghanistan women’s football teammade it to Australia’s Under-18 squad
Women’s Rugby Football Union of Afghanistan (WRFU) Football team made it to the finals of Under 18 Women’s Soccer tournament in Perth last year and a number of players were selected for the Australian U18’s squad. A lot of these players are now competing for the national team.
But the Afghan women’s team has been struggling to make a place in the Olympic Games for the last few years. But thanks to the help of a team of volunteers led by Women’s Rugby Football Union of Afghanistan (WRFU) President, Sargis Sediq, the team has finally made it there and now has been selected for the Australian U18 Women’s Soccer team.
A lot of these players are now competing for the national team.
“This is a dream since I was 10 years old,” says Mahvish for the girls. “We have put together a team of 15 players based on where they come from. Not that we are good at football, but the coaches have told us to help girls from the south to compete with us. Some of us also make sure that girls from the south can compete with boys and men, and we are trying to reach girls and boys, so that they can compete together.”
As part of the coaching and training in Australia, Mahvish and her teammates have had to travel overseas to compete with other teams.
“All of us from the different places made up four teams from our districts to compete with each other and they came back with medals,” says Mahvish. “Of course we were happy that we got to compete with players from other districts and provinces with whom we are friends. They are really good players and their skills are better than ours, but we made them compete with us and we came first.”
The main team consists of seven girls from Mazar-i-Sharif who are