“My team-mates are my sisters. Our dream is to play together again, standing side by side.”
In June 2021, Fatima Foladi was a rising football star in Afghanistan when she scored against Tajikistan in an under-17 international match.
Two months later, her life was turned upside down.
The Taliban’s return to power led to the repression of women’s rights in the Asian country, restricting basic freedoms and banning teenage girls from education. The United Nations said such treatment could amount to “gender apartheid”.
Foladi, then aged 16, went to Kabul International Airport where, upon showing her national football credentials, she was assisted by the U.