VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Khalida Popal, the former captain of the Afghanistan women’s national team, celebrated the team’s reinstatement in what she described as a “historical moment” after a years-long battle to ensure the team could take part in official competition.

The team has been in exile since Aug. 2021, when the U.S.’ withdrawal from the country paved the way for the Taliban’s return to power. FIFA rules previously required national federations to sanction a national team, something the Afghanistan Football Federation was unwilling to do, but the FIFA Council’s decision on Tuesday allowed the governing body to handle the sanctioning themselves. The national team can effectively resume regular play immediately in the hopes of qualifying for their first-ever major competition.

“A historical moment,” Popal told CBS Sports on Thursday at the FIFA Congress, recalling her feelings upon finding out the news two days earlier. “Something to be proud of. Something that we have waited for such a long time. Long journey, long fight, long battle, but we have achieved, and we have not only changed the future for the women of Afghanistan, but also globally because the statutes of FIFA is adopted and now, there won’t be teams who will suffer for the same situation that we have suffered and sacrificed for so many years.”

The players had lobbied for the rule change as soon as they entered exile, but felt the gears begin to move almost two years ago, when the International Olympic Committee arranged for athletes to take part in the Paris Games despite being in exile.

“It started after the Paris Olympics,” Popal recalled. “The Afghan athletes were involved in the Paris Olympic Games and also, the cricket team started involving the women of Afghanistan, so it was a moment where FIFA started also having conversations with us and started listening to the stories of players, understanding especially around the security and safeguarding.”

Popal said FIFA’s highest-ranking leaders took a notable interest in the cause, including president Gianni Infantino and chief football officer Jill Ellis, while the creation of Afghan Women United allowed them to return to play last September.

“I appreciate that because the main concern was safeguarding and security of the players,” Popal said. “They didn’t want to harm, they didn’t want to risk, so that’s why they wanted to really work together with us and how it will work and what form and shape so that’s why we had our Afghan United Women pilot program, a refugee team as a pilot, to see if it works, if it’s too risky, and the success of the Afghan United Women refugee team is now a step for the recognition of the Afghan’s women’s national team.”

Popal said Afghanistan has matches lined up in New Zealand during the June international window, and her focus will now shift to ensuring FIFA’s leaders follow through on their promise to ensure regular activity for the team. It was hard for the ex-player, though, to reflect on the long journey that led to Tuesday’s announcement.

“The Afghanistan women’s footballers suffer a lot,” Popal noted. “They have fought so hard. They are resilient, and they are strong women. We played in the most dangerous country for women, that’s known by the U.N. – before Taliban took over. We took a fight. We took all the risks because we wanted to be the voice for our sisters, so that’s what we wanted to also ensure to FIFA, that it’s our risk at the end of the day, if you want to risk it or not, so they listened to us and they heard us. I’m so grateful that finally our players are feeling seen and heard and respected by the global football community.”