How Afghanistan women’s football teammade it to Australia
Updated
The Afghan women’s national football team is a group of players who want to make Afghanistan proud in the World Cup.
We’re going to hear more from them.
Our sports reporter is in Afghanistan this week on an extraordinary journey with a female football team from one of the war’s most dangerous countries.
I’m told of the courage it took for a team of Afghan women to walk to an unlikely destination: a country where the Taliban is a force for good.
The women are headed to Australia later this year to represent Afghanistan in an international sporting competition.
The women will meet the Australian women before their first game on Saturday.
On Monday they’ll board a plane and fly to Melbourne, where they’ll attend an Australian Football League match against their sister team.
After the match, they’ll travel to Cairns, where they’ll attend a women’s football camp.
The young women will train on the Sunshine Coast over the next two weeks and compete in the World Cup in Australia later this year.
The trip is the brainchild of the Australian Football International Development Academy, which aims to get women involved in football.
As part of their trip, the women have met with some of the country’s sports and media barons to gain support for their cause.
The Australian Women’s Football League and the Australian AFA have also welcomed the Afghan team.
In October, a group of Afghan women travelled to Sydney for a trial match, where they were welcomed with a minute’s applause.
The women travelled on Sunday to Queensland but were due back in Sydney today.
One of the women said she was delighted with the reception she received in Australia.
“We are very happy to have received the support we got from the people in Australia.
“We can’t stop thinking about this issue and it is important for us to do this