For nearly five years, dozens of Afghanistan’s women soccer players have lived in exile — scattered across Australia, the United States and Europe — unable to officially represent their country’s national team. A landmark amendment to the regulations of soccer’s worldwide governing body is set to change that.
The ruling Tuesday by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) allows Afghan female players to compete as the Afghanistan women’s national team in official international matches for the first time with full sporting recognition.
The decision, issued at a FIFA Council meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, rewrites a long-standing rule that required FIFA to recognize a…