Afghanistan women's national football team

Early history

The team was formed in 2007 by the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee with players drawn from among selected school girls in Kabul.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]}

In an attempt to improve the quality of women's football, the team was sent to Germany in 2008 to hold a preparation camp. Later in the year, the Afghan team traveled to Jordan to participate in the Islamic Countries Women's Football Tournament.^[10]

In May 2010, Danish sports brand Hummel International sponsored male, female and youth teams of Afghanistan.^[11]

The 2010 SAFF Women's Championship in Bangladesh marked the first appearance of Afghanistan in a major international tournament. In it, they played their first official game, against Nepal, where they were defeated by an overwhelming 13–0 scoreline.^[12]

2016 marked a big year for the Afghanistan Women's National Team as they received support from the Afghanistan Football Federation and hired new coaching staff, comprising head coach Kelly Lindsey, assistant coach Haley Carter, and program director Khalida Popal.^[13]

In November 2018, male staff of the Afghanistan Football Federation were accused of sexual and physical abuse of Afghanistan women's players.^[14] The alleged abusers included the federation's president, Keramuudin Karim.^[15]

2021 exodus

In August 2021, following the second takeover of the country by the Taliban, former team captain Khalida Popal who was based in Denmark, urged players to delete their social media accounts, erase public identities and burn their kits for safety's sake as they are again under Taliban rule.^[16] On 25 August, the Australian government announced they had evacuated 75 Afghan women athletes including football players. FIFPro and Popal worked with authorities in six countries, including Australia, the US, and the UK, to get athletes and their families airlifted out of Afghanistan. FIFPro general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann described the evacuations as "an incredibly complex process".^[17][18]

The national team also withdrew from the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers.^[19]

In March 2022, the national team was admitted into Football Victoria's state league:^[20] they were placed in State League 4 West, the seventh tier of Australian women's football and sixth in the Victorian structure, as Melbourne Victory FC AWT.^[21] They were promoted after both the 2022 and 2023 seasons and are playing in State League 2 for 2024.^[22]

In May 2022, the team's development side which were relocated to the UK following the fall of Kabul played a friendly against non-FIFA team Surrey in Dorking.^[23][24]

Afghanistan was included in the draw in January 2023 for the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.^[25] The CAFF released a statement inviting players based outside the country to play for the women's national team. However, Afghanistan would be withdrawn by the AFC. The statement, which was by an individual based in Albania who was still accredited as the media director of the AFF, was taken down by the federation. The AFF released another statement that it would not allow any players based abroad to represent the country or intend to organize a women's national team at all due to the laws of the Taliban.^[26]

FIFA-recognized refugee team

In May 2025, FIFA sanctioned the creation of a Afghanistan women's refugee team which will be allowed to compete in official tournaments. The program will tentatively run for one year under a pilot phase.^[27][28] Pauline Hamill was appointed as head coach and is tasked to hold three identification camps prior to playing FIFA-approved friendlies in late 2025.^[29] Reportedly they are still unable to compete in international competitions.^[30][31]

The Afghanistan refugee team, also known as Afghan Women United will debut in the four-nation FIFA Unites: Women's Series friendly tournament originally scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates.^[32] However the UAE has refused to issue visas to the Afghan players and the tournament was moved to Morocco.^[33][34]

Current squad

The following 23 players were named to the squad for the FIFA-sanctioned four-team tournament in the United Arab Emirates from 23 to 29 October 2025.^[35]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Montaha Moslih	unknown			Melbourne Victory AWT
2	2DF	Bahara Samimi	unknown			Melbourne Victory AWT
3	2DF	Khursand Azizi	unknown			Melbourne Victory AWT
4		Susan Khojasia	unknown			unknown
5	2DF	Mursal Sadat	unknown			Melbourne Victory AWT
6	3MF	Mona Amini	unknown			unknown
7	3MF	Sevin Azimi	unknown			Rossington Main
8	3MF	Nazia Ali	unknown			unknown
9	4FW	Manozh Noori	(2003-03-11) 11 March 2003 (age 22)			Melbourne Victory AWT
10		Fatema Haidari	unknown			Chiesanuova 1975 ASD
11	4FW	Nilab Mohammadi	unknown			Melbourne Victory AWT
12	1GK	Fatima Yousufi	(2002-01-14) 14 January 2002 (age 23)			Melbourne Victory AWT
13	2DF	Kereshma Abasi	unknown	4	0	Melbourne Victory AWT
14	2DF	Najma Arefi	unknown			unknown
15	3MF	Bahara Kohistani	unknown			Melbourne Victory AWT
16		Zainab Mozaffari	unknown			Retford FC Ladies
17	2DF	Mina Ahmadi	unknown			Melbourne Victory AWT
18	1GK	Elaha Safdari	unknown			Rotherham United
19		Maryam Karimyar	unknown			Famalicão
20		Fatema Urfani	unknown			Ayenda FC
21		Azi Zada	unknown			unknown
22		Sosan Mohammadi	unknown			unknown
23	3MF	Bibi Noori	unknown			Melbourne Victory AWT

FIFA Women's World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup record										Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1991 to 2007	Did not exist									Did not exist
2011 to 2019	Did not enter									Did not enter
2023	Withdrew from qualification									Via AFC Women's Asian Cup
2027	Did not enter									Did not enter
2031	To be determined									To be determined
2035
Total	—	0/10	—	—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—	—

Summer Olympics

Summer Olympics record										Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1996 to 2008	Did not exist									Did not exist
2012 to 2020	Did not enter									Did not enter
2024	Withdrew from qualification									Withdrew
2028	Did not enter									Did not enter
Total	—	0/8	—	—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—	—

AFC Women's Asian Cup

AFC Women's Asian Cup record										Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1975 to 2010	Did not exist									Did not exist
2014 to 2018	Did not enter									Did not enter
2022	Withdrew from qualification									Withdrew
2026	Did not enter									Did not enter
2029	To be determined									To be determined
Total	—	0/21	—	—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—	—

CAFA Women's Championship

CAFA Women's Championship record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
2018	Group stage	4	0	0	4	0	32	−32
2022	Did not enter
Total	1/2	4	0	0	4	0	32	−32

*Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

SAFF Women's Championship

SAFF Women's Championship record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
2010	Group stage	3	0	1	2	2	18	−16
2012	Semi-final	4	1	1	2	6	19	−13
2014	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	19	−18
2016	Group stage	2	0	0	2	1	11	−10
Total	4/7	12	1	2	9	10	67	−57

*Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.