Afghanistan’s ladies football group ‘to get UK visas’ to let them continue playing

By

Emily Sørensen

-

06/10/2021

625

The ladies trained for the very first time in Portugal just recently (Picture: Getty)

Players from Afghanistan’s girls’ football team have reportedly been granted visas to come to the UK.

Some 111 players, coaches and family members of the squad are set to be given the green light for a safe and permanent home away from the Taliban, according to The Sun.

But female Afghan players have been given asylum by Portugal and it is unclear which country they will end up in long-term.

The group had been living in Pakistan on temporary visas since fleeing their homeland after the takeover – and faced being sent back once their asylum period ran out.

The girls were recently surprised by the captain of the women’s team, Farkhunda Muhtaj, who lives in Canada and helped to get them to Lisbon, where she then trained with them in their first session for months.

Campaigners have been calling for the younger group to be given permanent sanctuary in the UK, amid fears they would be persecuted by the new Afghan government and stopped from playing football.

Leeds United was among a number of organisations who urged the Government to grant the girls asylum.

Farkhunda Muhtaj, left, the captain of the Afghanistan women's national team, runs with the ball during a training session with her teammates at a soccer pitch in Odivelas, outside Lisbon, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. — Farkhunda Muhtaj, the Afghan women’s team captain, helped the girls escape the Taliban (Picture: AP)

Members of the Afghanistan national girls soccer teams jog during a training session at a soccer pitch in Odivelas, outside Lisbon, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. — The girls’ teams had managed to train in Portugal last month (Picture: AP)

Members of the Afghanistan national girls soccer teams hug during a training session at a soccer pitch in Odivelas, outside Lisbon, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. — The girls have been offered places in Leeds United’s youth system (Picture: AP)

Now a source close to Home Secretary Priti Patel has told The Sun: ‘At the heart of Priti’s new Afghan resettlement scheme is the protection of women and girls.’

They added that the team ‘will be able to make the UK their home, free from fear and persecution’.

Last month, Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani offered to place all the players in its youth development teams and said his club stood ready to ‘give the girls a prosperous and peaceful future’.

Kashif Siddiqi, who co-founded the Football for Peace charity which led the campaign to help the girls, thanked Ms Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson for ‘giving these players a future’.

Members of the Afghanistan national girls soccer teams enter the field for a training session at a soccer pitch in Odivelas, outside Lisbon, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. — The girls and their families have been helped by campaigners concerned about their safety (Picture: AP)

Players of Afghanistan national women football team attend to a training session at Odivelas, outskirts of Lisbon on September 30, 2021. — The girls and their families have been helped by campaigners concerned about their safety (Picture: AP)