It’s a sharp, cold evening at the Etihad stadium in Manchester, where the Women’s Super League (WSL) derby is about to start. Among the legions of Manchester City and Man Utd fans who have turned out in zero degrees, sit a row of four sisters keenly watching the teams warm up.
Mozhgan, Resalat and Roma Ghafouri once played in the Afghan Premier League, while their sister Rozma was a renowned manager. But today they are thinking of a woman from Iran, the country they once lived in as refugees, where women are banned from even entering football stadiums.
“It is wonderful to be here, and especially to hear young girls singing football songs on the terraces,” Mozhgan, 28, says. “But, for us, being in a stadium is something we cannot take for granted.
“Women have died to be allowed to enter a football stadium in Iran. And in Afghanistan, since 2021, women’s sport has been banned and criminalised by the Taliban.”
In 2019, Sahar Khodayari – known as the Blue Girl after the colours of her favourite Iranian football team, Esteghlal – was caught sneaking into a match at Tehran’s Azadi stadium disguised as a male spectator.
After learning she faced imprisonment, she set herself on fire and subsequently died in hospital, sparking a human rights outcry in Iran and across the world.
“She was a victim, but she became an icon,” Roma, 30, says. “An icon for all Iranian girls. Her sacrifice has led to change in Iran.”
With terrible irony, Azadi means freedom – and all the sisters have ever wanted is the freedom to play and coach football. But born under the Taliban, their family had to flee to Iran when they were children – and there, under a hardline government, they were not allowed to enter stadiums.
After having been forced into child labour themselves, they set up several highly successful young people’s football teams from among the Afghan refugee population – providing an escape from child labour for many of their players.
Their teams – involving over 700 children – became so famous that head coach Rozma won the United Nations’ Nansen Refugee Award.
Mozhgan rose up through the ranks of women’s football in Iran only to find refugees were banned from playing in the Premier League.
After the Taliban were pushed out and Afghanistan became more stable, from 2015 they were able to go back and play in the Afghan Premier League, with Mozhgan called up to the national team in 2021.
The Taliban re-invaded Kabul that August – prompting the team captain Khalida Popal to urge national team players to delete their social media accounts and even burn their football kits to save their lives.
Mozhgan picked up a voicemail from the coach of the national Afghan team. “The message said there is no longer a women’s national team of Afghanistan,” she remembers. “It said, we don’t have a team anymore. It was devastating.”
Now, women’s football is outlawed in Afghanistan – and any female athlete caught or seen at sports facilities or gyms faces imprisonment, torture, and even the death penalty.
Today, at the stadium, where they are the guests of Man City, the Ghafouri sisters tell me they are also thinking of a young man called Ali Arab, who they trained in the refugee camps of Iran from the age of 13. Ali had ended up joining the Afghan under-20s national futsal team.
“He was such a talent,” Mozhgan says. “But when the Taliban came back, and he knew there would be no more football and he was living in a desperate situation, he ended his own life.”
Last Friday, after reading our previous report on the sisters’ passion for football and Man City in the Mirror, the Blues invited the sisters to watch the women’s team train at the Joie Stadium in Manchester, close to the Etihad.
There they saw WSL stars including Lionesses Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly, Jess Park and Khiara Keating in action. They also met managing director of Manchester City Women, Charlotte O’Neill.
O’Neill was moved to tears when they tell her about young Ali – the talented young man who just wanted to play football. “Meeting the Ghafouri sisters who share our passion for football was truly moving,” O’Neill said afterwards.
“It was an honour to hear their stories, including the many obstacles they have overcome and how their love for football has helped them throughout their journey.
“Having heard their story first hand, I have no doubt that their love for football will inspire countless others, as it certainly did for me. Their determination and resilience are a testament to the power of sport in breaking down barriers and bringing people together.”
The Ghafouri sisters explain that despite the fact their all-time favourite player is Cristiano Ronaldo, their favourite UK team is Man City.
“It’s one of the reasons we wanted to come to this country,” Rozma, 32, says. “We used to love watching Samir Nasri, David Silva and Joe Hart. And we are big fans of Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden in the current team.
“Our favourite players in the women’s team are Vivianne Miedema and Rebecca Knak, who both scored headers on Sunday. We were so impressed, not just with the team’s discipline, training and tactics, but how humble all the team are.
“It’s interesting for us to learn there was a ban on women’s football in England 1921-71 too – when the FA said the game was ‘unsuitable for females’.”
When the sisters arrived in the UK as refugees, they were dispersed to Carlisle. They worked nights in a local food factory until they had enough to rent a small unit in the covered market – where they set up their own hair and beauty salon, ‘4 Sisters’.
Striker Mozhgan and Roma were soon on the books of Carlisle Utd Ladies in the Lancashire County league, but Mozhgan tore a ligament 10 months ago, and has been on an NHS waiting list for surgery ever since. Yet another blow for the sisters’ dreams of playing at elite level.
At the Etihad, the sisters face-timed the inspiration for all of their journey – their mum, Pari, who always encouraged them to play football despite the disapproval of some.
“Some people would play the religion card,” Resalat, 26, told me. “But my mum always said, ‘I will stand up for you’. She said she’s not taking any crap and my girls can do what they like.”
But, while things are improving in Iran, back in Afghanistan, under the Taliban, the situation is rapidly deteriorating. “Things are getting worse every single day for girls in Afghanistan, not just in football but even in education, in everything,” Mozhgan says.
On Sunday, it wasn’t to be for Man City, who lost a goal-filled game – including an Ella Toone hat-trick – 4-2. But for the Ghafouris, watching from the family stand, the spectators won.
“We can see how passionately women’s football is followed by men, women and especially children and teenagers,” Mozhgan says. “Hearing all the little girls singing and chanting together is really inspiring and beautiful.”
