The brief History of Football in Afghanistan

The Afghanistan Football Federation was established in 1933 before it was affiliated with FIFA in 1948; nevertheless, the game had taken roots in the country in the early 1920s as the first Afghanistan team was formed in 1922, with the ultimate physical and to some extent financial support of foreign sponsors such as Turkey and Italy.

The first Afghans who obtained training were known as Abdul Hadi Dawi, Mawlawi Abdul Latif and numerous other sports enthusiasts from Habibia High School (HHC was founded by king Habibullah Khan in 1903 and is considered as one of the oldest Schools In Afghanistan) at Hashmat Khat fort in Kabul.

The primary football contests were formed/conducted between Habibia High School, Isteqlal High School, Youth team and the Refugees teams in 1922, in addition football matches were launched on the country level for special days such as Independence Day in Paghman district of Kabul province in which numerous high ranking officials from government, prominent religious influential figures and local were also available in the stadium for observing and viewing the football matches.

It is worth mentioning, that Afghanistan never had a national football premier league until 2012 when the Afghan Football Federation worked with the Moby Group and the key sponsors such as telecommunication company Roshan, to form the first ever national premier league with team drawn from eight zones across Afghanistan.

Source: Afghanistan Football Federation, FIFA.