KABUL, Afghanistan — The United Nations special rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has voiced support for calls urging FIFA to recognize the Afghan women’s national football team in exile and allow the players to return to international competition.
Posting on X on Wednesday, Bennett endorsed the appeal made by the Sport & Rights Alliance, a global coalition of human rights organizations that has accused FIFA of failing to take action against what it calls systematic gender discrimination under Taliban rule.
“Standing with Afghan women footballers, I support the call by @Sport_Rights for FIFA to take a strong stand against systematic gender oppression,” Bennett wrote.
The call comes just two days before the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers draw, which serves as a pathway to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team will be absent from the draw, marking the second consecutive World Cup-qualifying cycle it has been excluded from since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
The Sport & Rights Alliance has urged FIFA to formally recognize the exiled Afghan team and provide financial support to allow the players—many of whom now live in countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—to compete internationally. Under current FIFA rules, the team would need recognition from the Taliban-run Afghanistan Football Federation, which does not permit women’s sports.
Human rights groups and former players have described the team’s exclusion as a broader symbol of the Taliban’s systematic repression of Afghan women, whose rights to education, work, and public participation have been severely curtailed since the regime’s return to power.
