Afghanistan women's team watch World Cup with hope and fear

The scenes at Kabul airport two years ago shook the world. Among the desperate people trying to flee the Taliban in August 2021 was national team goalkeeper Fatima Yousufi. Soon after, she found herself trying to make a new home in a land that was almost entirely unfamiliar.

"We fled to Australia. I didn't know how far it is from Afghanistan," she told DW in Melbourne. "The only thing I knew was Sydney Opera House from [Disney film] Finding Nemo. At that time, it wasn't important for us where we were going, because the most important thing was to save our lives."

Yousufi was accompanied by most of her international teammates, helped by former Afghanistan captain Khalida Popal and former Australia men's international and human rights campaigner Craig Foster. But not all of her family made it.

"It just happened so fast. We made our decisions so quickly, to leave our loved ones behind. Our families are our supporters, and they were trying to help us be safe, because they knew we were a target," she continued.

"We were getting lots of bad news, in that situation, saying 'this athlete was killed today, this reporter today had been killed'. The story was going on, and it wasn't stopping. So it was a very big worry for all of us."

A new life, without loved ones

Yousufi now lives with three of her siblings, while one further sibling and her parents wait in Pakistan, hoping to join her in Australia. She, in strictly relative terms, is one of the lucky ones.

"In Melbourne, I don't have a family," explained striker Manozh Noori to DW. "All of my family is in Pakistan. They moved from Afghanistan to Pakistan when the Australian government said they needed to be in a second country.

"It is the same for a lot of my teammates' families, they are all in Pakistan waiting to come here to Australia. So at the moment, I'm living alone by myself.

"It is it is still hard for me to live alone because back in Afghanistan, I had a big family. My mother, my father and my sister and brother. But here I'm alone and life is really different - go to work, soccer, pay the rent, the water bill. Everything is difficult and hard for us."

As tough as the circumstances are, Yousufi says a "miracle" has helped forge a second family in the unlikely surroundings of Australian regional football. Those national team members who made it out now represent professional men's and women's side Melbourne Victory in the sixth tier of Australian football, thanks largely to Popal and Foster.

"Our team is a second family for each of us," said Yousufi. "We lost our first family back in Afghanistan. Before I joined Melbourne Victory and we played together as a team, I was thinking, 'Ok, being a refugee right now, we won't be playing as a team together right now. It's going to change, every one of us will go after our own lives, and we will be separated too. So it looked like the end of the story for the second family as well.

"But a miracle happened, and it's amazing to see we're playing as a team right now. We have been through a lot, and it would have been difficult if we had been separated. That's why it's such a great moment for us that we are together."

Recognition hard to come by

Both Yousufi and Noori spoke to DW in English after a 4-0 victory on a rainy Sunday in Melbourne. Neither could speak the language when they arrived but both have integrated quickly.

"When I first came to Australia, I only knew 'thank you' and 'my name is Manozh.' It was really hard to learn the language and the culture, the people. But I really tried to learn the English language and talk with people and be in the community. It was really hard for me, but now I feel better about it, I'm learning day by day,'" Noori said.

Though their shirts bear reference to their history as a national team, it remains a sore point that Afghanistan, as they are a team in exile, are no longer recognized by FIFA, particularly with the World Cup being played in Australia and New Zealand.

World Cup remains the dream

"Since I have come here, I've said one of my biggest dreams is to play in the World Cup, to represent my country and be amongst the other flags," said Yousufi, who also captains the side.

"You can see here, right now, it's the World Cup, and other countries are here. It's amazing. But deep down as a player who, once upon a time, was representing their country, it's hard right now when you don't have that right. And you can't see your flag on there. It's very hard to see."

Though accepting such a fate is difficult, Yousufi added that their experiences mean this is not a team easily bowed.

"My hopes are so high, I'm not going to give up on my dream. We as a team will fight for our dreams, because of what we've have been through. That's what we have done until now. I think we will fight to have our voices louder to say: 'This is our right as a woman.'

"We have a second chance and it's amazing to be alive. So we now need to have our second chance to represent the country, to represent the girls and our sisters and mothers who are back in Afghanistan and suffering from a situation where they don't have the right to play, to go out and get education, to go outside and be themselves."

Edited by Matt Ford