As the World Cup draws global attention, money, and celebration to Mexico, a prominent Afghan activist is raising an urgent question: will any of that momentum reach the girls and refugees living outside the stadium walls?
Khalida Popal, a founder of Afghanistan’s women’s national football team, was forced to flee her homeland after the Taliban reclaimed power in 2021 and effectively wiped women from sports and much of public life in the country.
Now based in Mexico City, Popal is partnering with local organizations to hold football clinics for refugee children and underserved communities. Her goal is to use the World Cup’s platform to push host countries toward creating a meaningful, lasting social legacy — one that outlasts the final whistle.
“The World Cup is happening in a very short time,” Popal told Reuters. “But what about after the World Cup? And how the community needs to get the focus and support.”
Popal acknowledged that Mexico has made real strides in women’s football, highlighting the growing influence of Liga MX Femenil and the historic appointment of Katia Garcia as the first Mexican female referee to officiate in a men’s World Cup match.
“I watched the woman stand there. That’s the Mexico we want to see,” Popal said, emphasizing that women in visible leadership roles on the pitch give young girls the confidence to believe they have a place in football.
FOOTBALL IS POLITICS
Popal pushed back firmly against the idea that sport and social issues should remain separate. “Everything about football is politics. It’s business and it’s politics,” she said, arguing that women’s football in particular has always been intertwined with activism.
Because the sport historically lacked financial support, she explained, female players were motivated purely by passion — and that passion empowered them to lead major global campaigns addressing the gender pay gap, gender-based violence, and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
But Popal stressed that progress on the field must be matched by change off of it. Mexico continues to face serious levels of gender-based violence and femicide. According to the U.N. refugee agency, 70,500 people sought asylum in Mexico last year — the majority of them women and children living in shelters. Popal warned that failing to provide these communities with opportunities and sustained support only deepens cycles of violence and exclusion.
Her perspective is informed by what she has witnessed in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban’s return in 2021, she said, women have been methodically removed from public life, with restrictions covering education, employment, and sport. She described Afghanistan as “an open prison” for women, noting that Taliban rules now go so far as to penalize women for speaking too loudly in public.
For Popal, the Afghan women’s team in exile stands for something far greater than a return to international competition — it is a symbol of why protecting women’s rights matters.
PROTECTING THE PLAYERS’ VOICES
As women’s football draws growing corporate investment and worldwide attention, Popal sounded an alarm that the activist spirit at the sport’s core could be drowned out.
“Football has become so commercialised that it has taken away the voice from the athletes,” she said. “The more money comes in, the more brands come in, the more stamped, the more logos you have on your chest, the more you lose your power of having a voice.”
Through her organization, Girl Power, Popal is working to protect that authenticity. By bringing football directly to refugee shelters and grassroots communities, she hopes to foster sisterhood and resilience — and to prove that the sport belongs to everyone, not just those with privilege and resources.
