“Every time I play, I’m playing for the women and girls of Afghanistan”: Fatema and Sevin’s story

When Fatema and Sevin first met on a football pitch in Herat, they were rivals. Playing for opposing teams in Afghanistan’s women’s league, they faced each other with fierce determination. There was no sign then that they would one day become close friends – or that football would carry them both through displacement and into a new life in the UK.

Today, they are teammates again on the Girl Power UK Team. They are also coaches, role models and advocates, using football as a way to rebuild their lives and fight for a better world.

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Fatema and Sevin grew up in Herat, Afghanistan, where playing football as a girl came with challenges. Their first meeting was competitive. “We played against each other,” Fatema explains. “We were enemies.”

“She pushed me in the match,” Sevin jokes. “Then she came over and helped me up – and after that, we became friends.”

What started as rivalry quickly turned into a close bond. Through shared experiences and a love of football, they began to understand each other. “We went through the same journey,” Fatema says. “We understand each other very well.”

“We had to leave and start from zero”

In 2021, Fatema and Sevin were building promising futures before they were forced to flee. Fatema was in her first semester of university and had started coaching, and her team were champions of the Afghanistan women’s league. Both women had been chosen for the National Development Team and were preparing to travel to Tajikistan for training.

Then, the Taliban took control, and everything changed. “We had to leave and start from zero,” Fatema explains.

“Five days before we were meant to travel with the national team, we packed to leave Afghanistan instead.”

Leaving meant losing home, stability and certainty. “When you leave your country,” Sevin says, “it means you leave your home forever. You don’t know when you will come back, or if you will ever come back.”

Arriving in the UK brought safety – but also new challenges. Fatema describes starting over in every way: a new language, new culture, new life. “You have to change everything to survive,” she says.

For Sevin, the first year was especially difficult, and she struggled with depression: “I couldn’t understand – why was I here? Why did I have to leave Afghanistan? Who am I?”

Rebuilding through football

Football became a space where they could feel like themselves again. “When I play, I forget everything,” Sevin says. “Playing football helped me to come out from the depression. After that first year, it felt like my life began again.”

Fatema found belonging through her first team in England: “I felt like I was part of something bigger. I felt like this was my home.”

In Afghanistan, football had meant freedom – a place where they could escape restrictions and expectations for the length of a game. In the UK, it became something more: connection, confidence and community. “Football changed our lives,” Sevin says. “That’s why we are here.”

Playing for the women and girls of Afghanistan

Today, Fatema and Sevin play and coach across the UK and Europe with Girl Power, supporting girls from refugee and Muslim backgrounds to build confidence, community and physical and mental wellbeing. But their motivation goes beyond personal success. “For me now, football is not just for myself,” Fatema says. “It’s for the women and girls in Afghanistan.”

Sevin agrees, “Every time I play, I’m playing for them.” Football is a reminder of both what they lost and what they are still fighting for.

Through Girl Power, Fatema and Sevin have also rebuilt a sense of Afghan identity and community in the UK. “When we come together to play, it feels like home,” Fatema says. “We are like sisters.” Whether playing matches or training together, football reconnects them to each other and their memories of home.

In England, they have also found a shared love for the game that helps bridge cultures. “People here love football,” Fatema says. “They welcome you when you play.”

The courage to start again

Fatema and Sevin’s journeys have been shaped by displacement, loss and uncertainty, but also resilience. Both women carry the knowledge that many girls in Afghanistan still cannot play, study or live freely. This sense of responsibility, and the courage to start again, is what drives them forward.

They are motivated by a belief that sport is a game changer for displaced women and girls. Because it changed their lives, and the lives of the young women that they coach.

“When you come to a sport, your body is active, you find community, and everything changes. I found myself in football. That’s why I love it. If I have a daughter, and I’d like to, I know I’ll support her to play football. Sport gives us goals, dreams, something to fight for.” – Sevin

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Inspired by the lives and experiences of people seeking sanctuary, Refugee Week 2026 invites us to explore the theme of Courage.

For refugees around the world, courage is often a daily necessity. It is the courage to face unknown journeys, learn new languages, navigate unfamiliar systems or simply to wake up each morning and step into an uncertain world.

You can learn more about Refugee Week and how and get involved here.

To learn more about Girl Power’s incredible work, visit their webpage.

This summer, UNHCR is celebrating the power of sport through its Gamechanging Team. For refugees, football is more than a game – it’s a game changer. More information here.