 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Football in Afghanistan" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Football in Afghanistan | |
|---|---|
 Ghazi Stadium, the national stadium of Afghanistan | |
| Country | Afghanistan |
| Governing body | Afghanistan Football Federation |
| National teams | Men's national team Women's national team Afghanistan national futsal team Afghanistan national beach soccer team Afghanistan national minifootball team |
| Nicknames | The Lions of Khorasan (m); The Lions of Afghanistan (شیران افغانستان)(w) |
| First played | at least 1923 (men) at least 2007 (women) |
| Registered players | 1922 |
| National competitions | |
| Club competitions | |
Afghan Premier League (m) Kabul Premier League (m) Futsal Premier League (m) Afghan Women's Premier League[1] (w) | |
Football is one of the two most popularsports inAfghanistan; the other one beingcricket.[2][3]
According to theAfghanistan Football Federation, the first Afghanfootball club wasMahmoudiyeh F.C., which was founded in 1934. Their men's team traveled to India three years later and took part in 18 games of which 8 were won, 9 lost and 1 tied.Ariana Kabul F.C. was established in 1941 and became the second Afghan football club. This team sent a men's team toTehran upon invitation fromIran, played 3 games in which 1 was won and 2 were lost. Nothing is known about the early history of women's football in the country.
In 1948, theAfghanistan Football Federation joined FIFA and sent a men's national team to the UK to compete in the1948 Summer Olympics. They lost their only match in a preliminary round 0–6 toLuxembourg national football team. From 1974 to 1979, an international football tournament namedAfghanistan Republic Day Festival Cup, was organized in the country, in which multiple foreign teams participated.[4]
Afghanistan women's national football team is only recognized by theFederation since 2007.
Football in Afghanistan is governed by theAfghanistan Football Federation (AFF). The AFF was founded in 1922 and is a member ofFIFA since 1948. In 1954, AFF became one of the founding members of theAsian Football Confederation and in 2015 of theCentral Asian Football Association.
Since theFall of Kabul (2021), women's football is forbidden under theTaliban and AFF has subsequently discontinued all women's football programs. TheAfghanistan women's national football team has taken refuge in Australia and keeps training and playing regularly,[5] while a development squad is based in the UK.[6]
One of the major successes of the Afghanistan men's national team came when the team won the2013 SAFF Championship in Nepal. They have also finished runner-up of the same event in2011 and2015 and fourth at theAsian Games 1951 and the2014 AFC Challenge Cup.[7]
One of the major successes of the Afghanistan women's national team came when the team reached the semi-finals of the2012 SAFF Women's Championship in Sri Lanka.[8][9]
The average attendance per top-flight football league season and the club with the highest average attendance:
| Season | League average | Best club | Best club average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 353 | Attack Energy | 1,532 |
Source: League page on Wikipedia
| National teams | |
|---|---|
| League competitions |
|
| Cup competitions |
|
