Captain Of My Country

Fatima Yousufi, Afghanistan

In August 2021 the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Members of the Afghan Women’s National Team were forced into hiding, before they fled the country to safety in Australia with help from the team’s former captain Khalida Popal.

Since then, they have built new lives in Australia and resumed playing football. This has included the formation of the Melbourne Victory Afghan Women's Team.

In partnership with Hummel, Goal Click is telling the stories of the players of the Afghanistan Women’s National Team. Hummel has been a long-time supporter of the team, providing kit for the team and aid for their journey in Australia. To support the team and their fight for equality, you can buy their jersey here.

Fatima Yousufi, 20, is the captain and goalkeeper of the team and now lives in Melbourne. She tells the story of her football career in Afghanistan, her hopes for the future, and her experiences in Australia - including speaking to a huge crowd at half-time of a Manchester United v Melbourne Victory match.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your football life?

My name is Fatima Yousufi. I am from Afghanistan and I am a 20 year old athlete that has played for the Afghanistan Women's National Football Team (AWNT) for almost six years. I started playing football in 2016 with some of my classmates, and I started playing professionally in 2017 for the U17 women's national team. When I started playing, all I knew about football was who Messi and Ronaldo were. I never knew that Afghanistan had a women's national team!

I just used some dribbling skills that I learned on TV and other girls were impressed. I was proud that I was doing the exact thing boys were doing. I never dreamt of playing soccer as a girl because I had this idea in my head that football is a game only for boys. This is also an opinion that the majority of people in my home country have.

Luckily, I had the help and support of my mother to find my courage and change the mindset of my father, relatives, and classmates. I also faced many other challenges across society and security issues. My dream felt almost unreachable, but I ended up having the honour to become the captain of the Afghanistan national team.

Currently, I am playing for Melbourne Victory after my country Afghanistan fell in August 2021. Over the past few years I have become a well known and high profile athlete in Afghanistan. When the Taliban took over it was enormously dangerous for me and my family to continue living there, as we were targets for the Taliban. It was impossible for me to continue my journey and again that dark age and old ideology came out. The Taliban banned women from not only playing sport but getting an education as well.

After Kabul fell, me and my teammates were able to evacuate safely to Australia with the help of the former captain of AWNT, Khalida Popal. As she based in Denmark, she organised to help our team with the support of amazing people such as the former captain of the Australian Men’s National Team Craig Foster, former Olympic swimmer Nikki Dryden, former goalkeeper coach of AWNT Haley Carter, former Australian Women’s player Moya Dodd, and lawyers Kat Craig and Alison Battisson.

What has your sports journey been like up until now?

Football has changed my life. It is not easy to reach your dreams but by working hard and believing in yourself you can achieve it. My journey has had lots of ups and downs, beautiful memories, and a lot of challenges, but I have learnt so much. The biggest lesson was and is the unity in our team. Together our bond is stronger than before.

One of the most dangerous moments I faced was the fall of Afghanistan. It was unbelievable, shocking, and I had never been in that situation before. I was scared and trying to survive. In the end we survived and we are able to fight for our dreams.

What did you try to capture with your photos? Was there a wider meaning?

All the photos were taken in different places in Melbourne and Sydney. In Sydney we had a leadership program where we trained with other Afghan refugee girls and my teammates Bahara Samimi and Mina Ahmadi. Bahara plays as a defender. Both of us were so excited to meet each other again after so many months and I gave her the Hummel kit of the national team.

While wearing our former national team jerseys, we were telling each other that it felt like we were in Tajikistan again, where we played our last competition as a national team before the Taliban took over the country.

There is a photo of Bahara and Mina smiling because they were telling stories about the old days, like when we played against the Tajikistan women’s U19 national team and one of our teammates was cheering out of happiness like a chicken after we scored a goal! Right now we have stories of the past but we are hoping to make stories in the future and to have our chance to play for Afghanistan again.

In Melbourne, I took some photos of us playing football, warming up before a game we won 11-0, getting to and from training by public transport, and also a training session with some of the coaches of Manchester United before they played a friendly against the Melbourne Victory men’s team in 2022. It was unbelievable to have the staff and coaches from Cristiano Ronaldo's team come and train us and also give us Manchester United jerseys as gifts!

When Melbourne Victory played the friendly game against Manchester United we were welcomed by the crowd at half time and I was able to talk to a crowd of 74,157 in the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), one of the biggest and most beautiful stadiums in the world. I felt so honoured and proud when we entered the ground at the MCG. I felt the passion of the fans in the crowd and the happiness of my teammates.

How important are your teammates to you?

Our team is united and we have each other's back, no matter what! We feel happiness when we are together, with the family we call our team. Our second family. We love spending time with each other and we really value each other. We look after each other and there is almost a birthday every week in our family of 28 girls, so we have lots of parties!

We held a birthday party for one of my teammates, Manizha Sadat, where all my teammates were invited. If any of my teammates were with their parents when Afghanistan was normal, they would have been celebrating their birthdays. We tried to recreate this feeling, and it is a beautiful feeling when you witness the happiness and the sense of joy between us all.

Why is football so important for your team and community in Afghanistan?

Football is our passion. We are trying to work to be our best, not only for ourselves but because of our sisters in Afghanistan and around the world. We feel a responsibility for our Afghan sisters who are struggling to achieve their dreams, not only in sport but also in other areas like education and basic human rights.

Since we started playing in 2017, we have seen the impact it has had in Afghanistan. When I was first playing football there were almost no young girls watching our games. But by 2020 we had so many girls interested in watching our games and they believed that football was a game for them too because WE ARE THE CHANGE!

What impact has Hummel had on you and your team?

When we heard Hummel was going to support us we were so happy that they cared and supported us, and did not forget us. Most importantly they valued the things we have been through and acted like family towards our team.

I enjoy training wearing my Hummel kit because it has a lot of stories connected to it. I received it the first time I joined the national team. I was always hoping to wear it one day. It holds a lot of memories and emotions - smiling faces, tears, unity, passion, joy, anger, love, and patience.

How has your experience of playing in Australia been so far?

Our experience with the Melbourne Victory team has been so special. They support us and encourage us in pursuing our dreams. They have been like a family to us, providing a safe and convenient place for training and having events. Since we have been playing here, we feel that we are safe. There is no fear of a bomb explosion on your way to training, no abuse of women who go to football matches. There is a different ideology and a different environment for players.

What does football mean to you?

Football means a lot to me in many ways. Before playing football, my world was a little world. I went to school and headed back home. But after I started playing football, my journey began and it became part of me. I explored a lot, I grew older and overcame so many obstacles. I also have good memories of championships and winning awards.

What do you think the future looks like for women’s football for your team and in your community and country?

My ambition for the future is to make our national team united again, and participate in national tournaments and competitions around the world.

I hope to see our beautiful flag again flying amongst the other countries with me and my sisters all together representing it. I think that there will be a beautiful future for the Afghan women's football family.