The evacuation of purportedly high-profile female footballers from Afghanistan may have included some who were not, it has been reported.
One plane carried 130 people, including 30 teenage players, to Stansted Airport near London, amid fears that women footballers were particularly at risk from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, because the regime viewed the sport as un-Islamic.
Sabriah Nawrouzi, a former captain of the Herat Youth team, was on the flight along with teammates Narges Mayeli, Sahar Chamran and Fatemah Baratean.
She told the BBC's Newsnight investigation she did not know all the people evacuated alongside her.
A former coach at Herat now living it Italy questioned whether some of the evacuees had even played football. "I have seen people in the list who have not even worn a football strip in Herat," he said.
But the BBC investigation found that "the description of the principal applicants as national players or members of a regional team — in some cases — appears to be false".
Women taking part in sport was seen as an act of defiance against the Taliban, and hundreds of female athletes left Afghanistan after the group returned to power and began curbing women’s education and freedom.
Some genuine players now living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, having not featured in Britain's evacuation plans, are resentful that others appear to have escaped by using false credentials.
One, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Newsnight: "The Taliban have banned sports for women and girls ... we are left behind in Afghanistan with no future. It just makes me feel very neglected and very sad because we are the real players and not some of those that got evacuated."
Khalida Popal, a former captain of Afghanistan’s national women’s team, helped lead evacuation efforts for female athletes.
She told Newsnight that she had not knowingly helped non-footballers to claim asylum.
“I categorically deny the allegations directed at me," she said. "I have repeatedly provided extensive evidence and explanations about why any suggestion that I had any formal role in verification and/or knowingly misled anyone about the identities of those evacuated is wrong.”
Australia evacuated members of Afghanistan’s national women’s football team and the youth girls’ team was resettled in Portugal.
Those on board were granted visas by the Home Office.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We worked with a number of organisations who identified and referred the group to us, undertaking security checks as part of the process.
“Should there be evidence that the information provided was incorrect, the Home Office will investigate.”
