How Afghanistan women’s football teammade it to Australia
A decade ago there were only a few women’s football teams in Afghanistan, but this summer Afghanistan made history with its first women’s football team in Australia.
What began as some girls training with the Afghan team in a Kabul school led to a small tournament featuring 10 teams, two of which went on to compete in the 2013 World Women’s Football Championships in Japan.
Today, the women’s team is training in Australia, and for the first time, it’s competing with bigger, national teams, including the Australian, New Zealand and USA women’s teams.
On Saturday night, the team will travel to Brisbane, and play in the Under-17 World Cup.
“We hope to raise more interest in women’s football in Afghanistan,” says Mohammad Hanif, coach of the women’s team, who also plays in the Australian league.
“The Afghan team has been working together with the Australian national team. We want to do well with them.”
Over 40,000 people were affected by the flood in the New South Wales state of Australia in December.
The floods destroyed 5,000 homes and caused up to $1.1bn of damage.
Authorities expect flooding and other flooding to occur across the country until the end of the year.
The floods prompted an update of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy, which is a policy framework for managing flood risk in Australia.
The document was released today and follows the release of the Flood Risk Management Plan for NSW, which recommended the reduction of existing flood risk in the state by 80 per cent.
The plan will cost an estimated $13bn and include the creation of 4,500 new flood-risk reduction works, including new bridges and culverts.
The plan also estimates the cost to mitigate against potential flood events. That includes the development of flood-management works, the purchase or lease of land and the funding for the development of the works.
