{"id":92688,"date":"2025-10-20T12:40:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T12:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tv.guardian.ng\/?p=92688"},"modified":"2026-10-20T10:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T10:27:10","slug":"football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/","title":{"rendered":"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"dailymotion-player\"><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/x1ee8e.js\" data-video=\"k2ow0dXjhonDtbE3tFC\"><\/script><\/div><br><br><p>\nAfter four years fighting for recognition, Afghanistan&#8217;s female footballers thought they would finally get it this week. Instead they are stuck waiting at airports and at home, with their visas to enter the UAE rejected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After four years fighting for recognition, Afghanistan&#8217;s female footballers thought they would finally get it this week. Instead they are stuck waiting at airports and at home, with their visas to enter the UAE rejected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gam_disable_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1140],"tags":[38894],"class_list":["post-92688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-afghanistan-women"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt - GuardianTV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After four years fighting for recognition, Afghanistan&#039;s female footballers thought they would finally get it this week. Instead they are stuck waiting at airports and at home, with their visas to enter the UAE rejected.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt - GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After four years fighting for recognition, Afghanistan&#039;s female footballers thought they would finally get it this week. Instead they are stuck waiting at airports and at home, with their visas to enter the UAE rejected.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-20T12:40:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-20T10:27:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2025\/10\/74405409_604.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"767\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\"},\"headline\":\"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-20T12:40:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-20T10:27:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":52,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/74405409_604.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Afghanistan women\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/\",\"name\":\"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt - GuardianTV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/74405409_604.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-20T12:40:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-20T10:27:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"After four years fighting for recognition, Afghanistan's female footballers thought they would finally get it this week. Instead they are stuck waiting at airports and at home, with their visas to enter the UAE rejected.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/74405409_604.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/74405409_604.jpg\",\"width\":767,\"height\":432,\"caption\":\"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"GuardianTV\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\",\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/author\\\/abiodun\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt - GuardianTV","description":"After four years fighting for recognition, Afghanistan's female footballers thought they would finally get it this week. Instead they are stuck waiting at airports and at home, with their visas to enter the UAE rejected.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt - GuardianTV","og_description":"After four years fighting for recognition, Afghanistan's female footballers thought they would finally get it this week. Instead they are stuck waiting at airports and at home, with their visas to enter the UAE rejected.","og_url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/","og_site_name":"GuardianTV","article_published_time":"2025-10-20T12:40:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-20T10:27:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":767,"height":432,"url":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2025\/10\/74405409_604.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abiodun Ogundairo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abiodun Ogundairo","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/"},"author":{"name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1"},"headline":"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt","datePublished":"2025-10-20T12:40:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-20T10:27:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/"},"wordCount":52,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/10\/74405409_604.jpg","keywords":["Afghanistan women"],"articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/","name":"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt - GuardianTV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/10\/74405409_604.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-20T12:40:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-20T10:27:10+00:00","description":"After four years fighting for recognition, Afghanistan's female footballers thought they would finally get it this week. Instead they are stuck waiting at airports and at home, with their visas to enter the UAE rejected.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/10\/74405409_604.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/10\/74405409_604.jpg","width":767,"height":432,"caption":"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/football-afghanistan-women-in-limbo-fifa-games-in-doubt\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Football: Afghanistan women in limbo, FIFA games in doubt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","name":"GuardianTV","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization","name":"GuardianTV","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","width":600,"height":96,"caption":"GuardianTV"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1","name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/author\/abiodun\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131907,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92688\/revisions\/131907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}