The former captain of Afghanistan’s women’s national soccer team is urging female players to protect themselves by burning their uniforms and wiping their social media of traces that they ever played sports.
“Today I’m calling them and telling them, take down their names, remove their identities, take down their photos for their safety. Even I’m telling them to burn down or get rid of your national team uniform,” Khalida Popal told Reuters in a video interview on August 18.
Popal added that she had always advocated for young women to stand strong and be visible. But now, she wants female sports players to stay safe by erasing their online history and flying under the radar.
“That is painful for me, for someone as an activist who stood up and did everything possible to achieve and earn that identity as a women’s national team player,” Popal told Reuters.
“To earn that badge on the chest, to have the right to play and represent our country, how much we were proud,” she added.
Outspoken women and activists in Afghanistan are looking toward a grim future
But the joy did not last long. Popal received death threats for speaking about the Taliban on national television in her role as the event director of the country’s women’s football association. She fled Afghanistan and sought asylum in Denmark in 2016.
“I say to every woman to stay strong. Together, women are capable of so many things,” said Popal to the AFP in an interview back in 2018.
