Football is one of the two most popular

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, t ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

; the other one being

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Early History

Afghan national women's soccer team takes the field DVIDS385149

According to the

Afghanistan Football Federation The Afghanistan Football Federation (A.F.F.) ( Persian: فدراسيون فوتبال افغانستان) is the governing body of football in Afghanistan, controlling the men's and women's national teams. It was founded in 1922 and has been a ...

, the first Afghan

football club A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...

was Mahmoudiyeh F.C., which was founded in 1934. Their men's team traveled to India three years later and took part in 18 games of which 8 were won, 9 lost and 1 tied. Ariana Kabul F.C. was established in 1941 and became the second Afghan football club. This team sent a men's team to

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

upon invitation from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

, played 3 games in which 1 was won and 2 were lost. Nothing is known about the early history of women's football in the country. In 1948, the

joined FIFA and sent a men's national team to the UK to compete in the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

. They lost their only match in a preliminary round 0-6 to

Luxembourg national football team The Luxembourg national football team (nicknamed the ''Red Lions''; lb, Lëtzebuergesch Foussballnationalequipe, french: Équipe du Luxembourg de football, german: Luxemburgische Fußballnationalmannschaft) is the national football team of Luxe ...

. A Afghanistan women's national football team is only recognized by the

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing ...

since 2007.

Football governance

Football in Afghanistan is governed by the

(AFF). The AFF was founded in 1922 and is a member of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was foun ...

since 1948. In 1954, AFF became one of the founding members of the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly i ...

and in 2015 of the Central Asian Football Confederation. Since the

Fall of Kabul (2021) On 15 August 2021, Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul was captured by the Taliban after a major insurgent offensive that began in May 2021. This led to the overthrowing of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan under President Ashraf Ghani and ...

, women's football is forbidden under the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pashtu ...

and AFF has subsequently discontinued all women's football programs. The Afghanistan women's national football team has taken refuge in Australia and keeps training and playing regularly, while a development squad is based in the UK. Both teams receive no financial or organisational support by AFF, AFC or FIFA and cannot compete in official tournaments, as they lack recognition by AFF.

League system

There is currently no women's league in Afghanistan. For the men's league system, see Afghanistan football league system.

Cup system

There is currently no women's or men's cup tournament in Afghanistan.

Men's national team

One of the major successes of the Afghanistan men's national team came when the team won the 2013 SAFF Championship in Nepal. They have also finished runner-up of the same event in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

and fourth at the Asian Games 1951 and the

2014 AFC Challenge Cup The 2014 AFC Challenge Cup was the fifth and the final edition of the AFC Challenge Cup, an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations that are mainly categorized as "emerging countries" in the now d ...

Women's national team

One of the major successes of the Afghanistan women's national team came when the team reached the semi finals of the 2012 SAFF Women's Championship in Sri Lanka.

Afghanistan football clubs

References

External links

Afghanistan Football Federation
{{Football in Asia