KABUL: When the boys of Brazil take to the field this World Cup, the few football-playing girls in Afghanistan will be cheering them on. For these passionate pioneers of women’s football in a country where five years ago women barely dared to leave their homes, the Brazilian team embodies the soccer success they dream of.

“Their feet are golden,” enthuses 18-year-old Azadeh Naem, a member of the months-old national women’s team, her face lighting up at mention of her favourite side.

“Brazil, they are the best in the world,” beams teammate Khalida Bhopal, also 18.

These eager teenagers are among the cream of the crop in a sport that took root in Afghanistan nearly two years ago and is still hidden from the public eye, with games on an actual football field a rarity.

They and the other 250 women registered with the Afghanistan Football Federation endure the disapproval of their conservative Islamic society and the discouragement of their families for the love of the game.

“It is very difficult for a girl to play football in Afghanistan. Society says football is not for girls,” Bhopal said at a recent training session on a cramped basketball court in a corner of Kabul’s Women’s Garden — a scrappy park for women and children only.

But she doesn’t care. “I want to play football. I want to be the best footballer,” she said, before joining her teammates — all of them wearing long tracksuits and most with their hair covered by a scarf as required by Islam.

The religion allows women to play sport if they are dressed modestly. In addition, they must play separately from men.

But it is still difficult for many in conservative Afghanistan to accept, said Ali Askar Lali, who is heading efforts to develop football here.

“It is not religious, it’s Afghan society. This is a man’s society,” said Lali, who captained the national team that sought and was granted political asylum while in Germany in 1980, the year after the Soviet invasion.

The advent of the Red Army thrust Afghanistan into 25 years of war.

In the chaos, the extremist Taliban regime rose to power in 1996, providing a sanctuary for the Al Qaeda terror network before being toppled by a US-led coalition in 2001.

The Taliban forced women under the all-covering burqa and from their schools and jobs. Playing sport was out of the question with even the men’s version only grudgingly allowed. Kabul stadium became a public execution ground.

Today the men’s team is back in the stadium but it is still out of bounds for women, most of whom continue wearing the burqa.

“Women’s football is new in Afghanistan... they cannot play outside where all people can watch,” said Ali, who returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.

Most matches are seven-a-side games on indoor pitches, with few people in the stands, hardly any of them men.

Naem picked up football in Iran where her family were refugees from the nearly 25 years of war. On her return three years ago, she sought out a women’s club, despite disapproval from her father.

“Afghanistan is a war country and there is danger everywhere ... every family wants their daughters to be safe, they don’t even want them to walk in the street,” she said, explaining his attitude.

Coach Abdul Sabour Walizada is proud of the team, which was assigned to him after women approached the federation for help in establishing the sport nearly two years back.

But there are difficulties, he said. “The main problem we have is of course the local circumstances, the general attitude... for girls it is not easy to play and train in public.—AFP