Report: Members of Afghanistan women's soccer team accuse federation of repeated sexual abuse
An investigation into the Afghanistan national soccer federation by one of its former executives found several disturbing claims of physical and sexual abuse, as well as death threats, against members of the country’s women’s soccer team, according to a report from The Guardian.
The claims have reportedly prompted the team’s top sponsor in Hummel, a Danish sportswear company, to cut ties with the federation and have triggered a new investigation from FIFA.
The allegations against the Afghanistan Football Federation
The report from The Guardian paints a horrific picture of executives having carte blanche to sexually abuse members of its women’s team and the ability to threatens their victims into silence, with the corruption reportedly reaching all the way up to the federation’s president.
The claims were turned up by Khalida Popal, the federation’s former head of the women’s soccer department. Popal reportedly fled the country of Afghanistan in 2016 out of fear for he life, but still organized training camps for the team on foreign soil.
It was at one of those camps in Jordan last February that Popal reportedly noticed all was not right with the women’s team and the federation staffers that came with them:
“They sent two male representatives, going under the title of ‘head of women’s football’ and ‘assistant coach’,” she said. “They were bullying and harassing the girls, particularly the ones from Afghanistan because they knew they wouldn’t speak up. I confronted them, told them they can’t do that and I’d make a complaint.
“It continued. These guys were calling on the rooms of the players and sleeping with the girls. AFF staff members would say to girls that they could get them on the team list and would pay them £100 a month if they would say yes to everything. They were pushing and forcing the girls. Coercing them.”
Popal told The Guardian that players from the team asked her to stop the men’s behaviors. Popal took the matter to the federation’s president, Keramuudin Karim, who she claimed told her to keep quiet and that the men would be punished when the team returned to Afghanistan.
According to the team’s coach, a former member of the United States women’s national team, the two men were instead promoted and moved to different departments in the federation. Meanwhile, several members of the women’s team reportedly received appalling treatment:
Popal said that shortly after the camp in Jordan ended “nine players, who are based in Afghanistan, some of our best players, were kicked off the national team, accused of being lesbians”. It was, she claimed: “Because some of them were going to talk to the media. The president [privately] labelled them lesbians to silence them from speaking out about the sexual abuse in Jordan and abuses by coaches. He beat one of the girls with a snooker cue. He beat the player and said she was a lesbian and she was kicked out of the federation.
After that, Popaa began her investigation and claimed she found multiple allegations against Karim, including one highly disturbing feature in the president’s office:
She said: “While I was doing the investigation with these players I found out the huge extent of the abuse, sexually, mentally, physically, happening from the president himself.”
She claimed: “Not only that, he has a room inside his office that is a bedroom with a bed. The doors of his office [use] fingerprint recognition, so when players go in they can’t get out without the fingerprint of the president.
Attempts to notify the Asian Football Confederation of the allegations reportedly went nowhere, with Lindsey claiming that the organization refused to speak to her. The AFC released a statement to The Guardian claiming it was now looking into the matter, but it had received “no reports of any sexual abuse to the AFC from any Afghanistan player.”
Afghan federation facing additional scrutiny over contracts
In parallel to Popal and Lindsey’s allegations, the Afghan federation also saw its captain, midfielder Shabnam Mobarez, refuse to sign a contract offered by the team because it would “take away my rights both as a player and female representing my country.”
Mobarez tweeted her decision two weeks ago.
Be proud of who you are and always stand for what’s right⚽️🇦🇫 pic.twitter.com/CaRMnOAFrS
— Shabnam Mobarez (@shabnammobarez) November 19, 2018
That claim obviously becomes more interesting when you consider the potential skeletons in the closet of the Afghan federation and the reported behavior of threatening victims into silence.
Afghanistan federation rejects sexual abuse accusations
In a statement released through Facebook, the federation called Popal and Lindsey’s allegations false and that it holds a “zero tolerance policy towards any type of such behaviour.” The organization attempted to cast doubt on Popal by claiming she had never directly contacted them to investigate the allegations.
The full statement:
The Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) vigorously rejects the false accusations recently made with regard to the AFF’s women national team.
The AFF is proud to have many young, talented female players in its teams and it does its utmost to support and protect them against all kinds of harassments or any kind of abusive behaviour. The AFF has a zero tolerance policy towards any type of such behaviour.
The AFF is in particular aware of the difficult environment for women’s sport in Afghanistan, and it admires all its female players for exercising the sport they love under such circumstances.
The AFF is disappointed that these very serious allegations seem to come from former employees, without ever having directly contacted the AFF and/or provided any specific information to help the AFF to investigate these allegations. As such, the AFF can only reiterate that these allegations are completely groundless. Should the AFF receive specific factual information and/evidence, it will not hesitate to initiate further investigations immediately and to take all appropriate steps to prevent such actions and prosecute those responsible for them.
The AFF will keep fighting to support and protect all of its players and to shape a better future in Afghanistan through sport. It is grateful for the vocal support of its current female players, who have all published statements on the AFF Facebook page.
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