As the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan worsens, football government bodies have called for the evacuation of female athletes from the country.
FIFA has requested several governments, asking them to help in the evacuation process, reports BBC. FIFPro – a worldwide organisation representing football players – echoed the same via their social channels, confirming that they are working with governments to establish an evacuation plan for the at-risk athletes.
Several Afghanistani women players have reportedly gone into hiding since the Taliban took over the country. Ex-Afghanistan women’s team assistant coach and US Marines veteran Haley Carter, who remains in contact with players, received a message from one of the players saying that their lives were at risk.
Earlier in the week, former Afghanistan women’s football team captain Khalida Popal called her peers to remove all traces of sporting identity to ensure safety from the Taliban.
Popal told Reuters she had been calling fellow athletes to urge them to do the same – advice which was later circulated by the Cycling Federation of Afghanistan.
“Today I’m calling them and telling them, take down their names, remove their identities, take down their photos for their safety. Even I’m telling them to burn down or get rid of your national team uniform,”
“And that is painful for me, for someone as an activist who stood up and did everything possible to achieve and earn that identity as a women’s national team player. To earn that badge on the chest, to have the right to play and represent our country, how much we were proud.”
Popal said.
Afghanistan’s sporting fraternity suffered its first big casualty last week when U-16 Afghanistan player Zaki Anwari died while trying to escape in a US plane. Anwari’s death was mourned by people all over the world.
