Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Female soccer players evacuated from Afghanistan to Qatar

Qatar says female soccer players have been evacuated from Afghanistan on a flight to Doha

Via AP news wire
Thursday 14 October 2021 22:40 BST
Afghan Players Evacuated
Afghan Players Evacuated (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Female soccer players were evacuated from Afghanistan on Thursday on a flight to Doha the Qatari government said.

“Around 100 footballers & their families including female players are on board,” tweeted Lolwah Al Khater, Qatar's assistant foreign minister.

Qatar worked with FIFA to coordinate the evacuation of players, including some on the national team, who were taken to a compound with other evacuees to undergo coronavirus testing. It is unclear how long they will stay in Qatar.

The international players' union, FIFPRO, in August helped secure seats on a flight out of Kabul for players from the Afghanistan women’s national team.

Concerns were raised for the safety of female athletes after the Afghan government fell much faster than publicly anticipated by the United States in August, allowing the Taliban to take back control of Kabul after 20 years.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in