Afghan Women United is comprised of players forced to flee their homeland and is another step in beating barriers
“W
hen I step on to the pitch everything else is automatically erased from my mind,” says the captain of Afghan Women United, Fatima Haidari, when asked how football helps her cope with the traumas she has suffered.
“I train, I play, and a fire inside me is lit, not just because of the power that I feel at that moment as a player, but because I feel I have many other girls with me. It’s like I’m taking their hands. Like I’m playing with them. It’s not just for me, and I feel powerful.”
Haidari is back in Italy, after the first matches played by Afghan Women United. The team is made up of players forced to flee their homeland following the Taliban takeover in 2021, players scattered across the world in Portugal, Australia, England and Italy.
