​I am 23 years old and I started playing football when I was 14. I started playing football to learn the game and I played in school which was run by German football association at that time. I was the top scorer and top player of my club; I also used to be the Captain. 

Football changed my life and my personality. Football made me a very strong fighter and a strong woman, a woman with passion & goals. I used football as a tool to stand against all obstacles and problems, which I was/am facing as woman in a male dominated country like Afghanistan. 

Football is a very important part of my life, which I am happy and proud of. When I am thinking about life without football, it will be very boring. 

When I was selected for the national team of Afghanistan, I was feeling very proud, and crying. it was like a dream come true. I was flying from happiness. 

In 2014 I became the Captain of the national team. When the coach gave me the Captain band,  was one of the greatest moments of my life.

Being a Captain of the national team is a huge responsibility and a source of pride for me. Being a leader was not easy for me at a young age. Leading my team and trying to be united to play under the flag of our beautiful country was an honor for me. 

My family and friends are very proud of me and they always support me to be strong and to fight for my rights as a woman and as a human. 

Playing football in a male dominated country like Afghanistan is not easy. The death threats and cultural obstacles that we face, will never weaken or stop us in dreaming for our future as woman. 

Football makes me happy and it gives me power to stand as a strong woman and take active part in society. 

When I compare my life now to when I was 8 years old, I wanted so much to play football with street kids. I didn’t have shoes and football to play, because my family could not afford to pay. Now there are a lot of opportunities for women’s football to stand together and play for their country on an international level. 

With new and positive changes in women’s football we are very happy and optimistic about future of Afghanistan women’s football. 

It is the first time we have professional women coaches and so many good activities and plans have been scheduled for women’s national team, which is great. It shows that women’s football is developing. 

I believe together we can bring positive changes in our country and also changes for the current situation of women in our country. 

My dream is to have more women clubs from all over Afghanistan and also a good league for women’s football. 

I believe together we will win the SAFF championship and we will bring pride home. 

Aorzala "Oreo" Atmar is 16 years old and lives in California. 
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I was born into a family of soccer, my parents, uncles and cousins all play currently and have been playing soccer their whole lives - I already had their love of soccer for my entire life.

I started playing when I was 7 and also have a black belt in taekwondo. Once I got my black belt a few years ago, I really began to focus on soccer. I play on Impact Soccer League, an NPL team, so soccer takes up a lot of my time. 

Like a lot of other girls on this team, my parents moved from Afghanistan because of the war. My mom moved to America before my dad did. My dad went to Pakistan during the war and when the war was over, returned to Afghanistan to continue his work as a doctor. When he came to America, I was born and saw him try to get his job back as a doctor in the US and fight to keep his career without having to go back to school. A lot of my drive and push to keep fighting came from watching my dad’s determination to keep his career. 

I work a lot with community service, and soccer is really big here in Brentwood, so soccer is always present in my life. 

When I found out I made the team, I was so excited. I found out on Father’s Day so I joked with my dad if I even needed to get him a gift, because what more could he want?

I’ve always played with Afghan soccer, it is a really big community here in California with annual tournaments and everyone got together and felt like a community again, not only were you playing soccer but you were able to speak Farsi and play soccer and have people understand you! When we get together, it’s passionate and we show that we can put the tournament together and be a community. That’s part of the reason why I’m so excited to go to the training camp with all the girls.

We all have that national heritage and that fire that we all want to represent Afghanistan and that will be nice because we all share that passion for sport and it will be amazing to come together and represent Afghanistan. 

Because I live in Brentwood and don’t live in Afghanistan, I’m taking this team to represent Afghanistan in some way, and to represent it through my passion makes it even better. Even representing them through this team is a big part for me to provide a connection and feel like I’ve done something to make them proud. 

My cousin played on the men’s national team, and when I knew we could do that, people from America could play, I was 13 and I really wanted to do this. I had no idea how to get there until I met Coach Haley Carter at my tournament and that was my spark, I really wanted to do this and I have my opportunity and I need to take it. 

Bahara Qoerayshie, 21 years old, was born in Kabul and currently is living in Best, Eindhoven (The Netherlands).
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I guess soccer kind of runs in the family. My father was a goalkeeper and played indoor soccer just like my older brother. Because I joined them a lot, watching their game, I started to feel the urge to play soccer myself. Before, I played volleyball, handball, took judo and taekwondo classes, but none of these sports where giving me the satisfaction I was looking for. When I told my parents that I wanted to play soccer as well my dad asked me; “why soccer Bahara, why not stay with volleyball? In 2008 I joined the club “the Wilhelmina boys” and currently I play with Best Vooruit. I play both soccer and indoor soccer. I like indoor soccer because your more involved in the game and because it’s a very tactical game.

When I found out about the multi-cultural tournament taking place in Amsterdam, I started to gather around a team of Afghan girls so we could participate in this tournament. This year, we participated for the second time and I can see a positive evolution. The team is much better, stronger, and better organized now. By starting this team, I got to know more girls and created a special bond with them.

Due to the scouting in Amsterdam by a delegation of the National Afghan Women’s team, I got into to the selection of the 32 players.

Being part of that selection is like a dream coming true. 

One day I was chatting with Khalida Popal using the chat function on Facebook. She told me that the Afghan Federation announced the selection of the 32 girls. I looked it up, saw my name on it, took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook. I wanted everybody to know. 

My family was so proud me being part of the selection for the National team, our own National Women's Soccer Team! I always wished for Afghanistan to be represented with a women's national team and now we were given this opportunity.

A couple of years ago, I was talking with Shabnam Mobarez, I told her that it would be great to have our own National Team, and look now! Here we are.

I’m happy and honored that there are people out there who believe in us and started this project. I know it will take a lot of hard work to get to the final selection of 23 but I will do anything in my power to make it. It will take self-discipline, respect, and sacrifice to make this work. I hope that the other girls understand this and hope they will take part in this project with the same attitude.

We still have a long way to go before we reach our goal, just like my father had to go a long way to get us all to The Netherlands, just to assure our future. My father left Kabul, traveled to Pakistan, Russia and many more countries to get to The Netherlands. When he was granted asylum, granted permanent residence, we joined him in The Netherlands. Although it wasn’t easy, my father never gave up and achieved his goal, bringing his family to safety.

I’m a lot like my father; I will never give up either. I want the Afghan National Women’s Soccer team to go all the way and to show Afghanistan that we women can also bring pride to the country. I want the team to win the South Asian Football Federation Championship in November, get attention, and show the entire world.

I want to contribute in this, be part of this. I want to send a message to the world. Afghan girls or women are not supposed to sit at home. I want to motivate the Afghan girls to go out there, chase your dreams, go do sports, fight for what you want in life but most of all,….believe in yourselves and NEVER GIVE UP because…YES WE CAN!!!!!

​I am a 20 year-old girl, I have been playing soccer for 5-6 years. I am also coaching one of refugee teams in Denmark. 

My love and passion for soccer started when I came to Denmark as an immigrant back in 2003. I was a young girl when I first embarked upon my love of soccer. I used to play with boys before even thinking twice about my gender or segregating myself in any other way.
 
Back in those days and even today, soccer to me is equivalent to dance. Dance is an expressive art, just like music, poetry or paintings - and soccer to me is that holy of art.

Dancing with my feet to tune of the ball, gives me a pleasure no one will understand.  Throughout the years, I have visited other countries, besides Afghanistan where I have been able to interact with the people that admire soccer. Most of them are young girls with a similar dream. I hear their stories of pursuing their goals for the future. I see the thrill of emotions they each uphold as they speak of their aspirations, and it reminds me of where I have come from. I hope that I can inspire these girls, not just for a future in soccer, but as a lesson that hard work, dedication, and a little hope goes a long way.

Hosna Korishi’s passion for football started at the age of 10, playing football with the boys during class breaks: 

When I was 11, we went to visit my grandmother in Iran for holiday. My uncle went outside to play football in the street with some boys and I also wanted to play. It was not common for girls to play in the street, let alone to play with boys. I asked my grandmother to convince the boys so I could play football with them, they agreed.

As an 11 year old girl, I was breaking the rules in a country where this kind of freedom is very limited, and that only to play football.

A couple of years later I signed up with a club, OSM 75 Maarssen for which I played for 4 years. Then I transferred to VV Maarssen and played for almost 5 years for this club. While studying labor laws at the Free University of Amsterdam, I played on their indoor soccer team for one year. I finished my Bachelor of Laws (LLB) two years ago and currently finishing up my Master of Laws (LLM), specialization in labor law.

I got to The Netherlands with my parents, my younger brother and sister due to the Taliban’s oppression in Afghanistan. Twenty years ago, we left Kabul. I was only 3 years olf and don’t remember much about that time. 

My father and mother told me it was no longer safe to live in Kabul and that’s why we left. My father was an art painter as well as teaching art painting, but upon the resurgence of Taliban rule in 1996, the ban on most forms of art and cultural expression was immediately implemented.  When the Taliban captured Kabul, my father was deprived of the right to paint and teach. Life became unbearable and dangerous for him and his family. That’s when my parents decided to leave Afghanistan in search of a safe place to live and to ensure us a future.

Traveling with other people, hitchhiking, using all kinds of transportation, we travelled from Russia, crossing many countries until we got to The Netherlands, where my uncle was waiting for us. It was for us nice to see a familiar face in this new, strange environment.

Once we were settled in The Netherlands, my parents travelled back to Afghanistan to visit their relatives still living there. I wasn’t allowed to go with them because they wouldn’t let me. They are care to much for me and think it’s not a good idea for me to go out there.

In 2015 I saw that they were looking for Afghan girls, playing football, to participate for the first time in a multicultural tournament in Amsterdam. I volunteered and met other football playing Afghan girls for the first time. The next year I was invited to participate again. Our second participation in 2016 in this tournament was with a much better team than the first time.

After our last game at the tournament, Coach Kelly Lindsey and assistant coach Haley came to talk to us. They motivated us and said; “I saw some good things on the field, if you all work even harder, than we will meet us in California end of august”.  First we couldn’t believe what she said so we turned to Haley and asked her; “is that true? Are we going to California? Can we be part of the national Afghan Team?

When the AFF announced the list of the 32 players that made it to the roster and I saw my name on it, I was so happy and excited. I had to tell all my friends and posted a message on Facebook I wanted everybody to know.  My parents were so proud that they told the rest of the family about my achievement. My mom is very happy for me but is not looking forward missing me for the time we will be in the US training. 

I know it will not be a holiday or a pleasure trip to California. I know that it will be hard work and that I have to prove to my coaches that I can be one of the final 23.

I’m looking forward meeting all the girls in California and to build a strong, coherent team. I want us, to be the proof that we as Afghan women, can bring pride to our country.

But before I get to the US, I have to train hard, improve my physical condition and make sure that I will be top fit when I will check in my bags for California.

Roya Noori is 20 years old, living as a refugee in Stockholm Sweden, since 2011. 

I started football back in 2004 and made football as career and goal for success and empowerment in my life. 

I struggled a lot in my life in order to continue living and also football career. I was a child that had to work in order to help my family. 

I lost my father due to sickness that my family couldn’t afford to pay the doctors. I was going to school after school and was coaching sports in House for Orphanage. And I was walking miles to go for training football. 

I have played football for the national team of Afghanistan for 2 years. I faced problems and death threats from my relatives until I had no chance of living in my country. 

I left my country and my family to flee to Sweden, Stockholm. Life was not easy without family and living away from your country in an early age.

Nothing is better than playing football, I continued playing football in one of the top youth club in Sweden (IK club), and in the meantime I is studying and working in Sweden. 

Now I have once again chance to play football for my country and bring pride to my country. It is my dream come true, I was waiting for a long time to get the chance once again to play for my country and today I got it, nothing can stop me to reach my dreams, even death threats.