The third edition of the exciting football tournament Afghanistan Champions League (ACL) got underway in Kabul on Saturday, with a spectacular opening ceremony that was attended by officials, players and fans.

Part of the ceremony saw officials praising the players including foreigners, by putting traditional Chapan coats on their shoulders at the Afghanistan Football Federation stadium.

“Athletes represent the will of a nation. Today, it is our athletes who have been able to win great honors for their country on international grounds,” said Mohammad Yusuf Kargar, President of the Afghanistan Football Federation.

“We have a different league today than the previous leagues, as there was no nationwide security in Afghanistan during the last 40 years,” Kakar said. “Fortunately, with this nationwide security, today foreign players are present in the squads of football teams in Afghanistan. Players from Africa, Iran and Pakistan are included in the football squads in Afghanistan.”

Officials said that Afghanistan has great achievements in sports, and they will continue to develop it

“The victory of Afghanistan national football team against India was an important achievement in the field of sports. Allah willing, we will try to take more steps in the field of sports to develop sports. We will expand sports from the center to the provinces and districts and make sports widespread,” said Ahmadullah Wasiq, the general director of physical education and sports.

The league is produced and broadcast by Ariana Television Network (ATN).

“Our goal is for football to grow in Afghanistan and for our national champions to achieve more and represent Afghanistan well,” said Lutfullah Stanikzai, Deputy MD, and Director of Sales and Acquisitions at Ariana Television Network

Shortly after the opening ceremony, the first match of ACL started, with Abu Muslim facing Sarsabz Yashlar.

Abu Muslim clinched 2-0 victory.

Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan will reconsider participating in the 2025 edition of the Big Bash League (BBL), after Cricket Australia (CA) indefinitely postponed their three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, which was scheduled for August at a neutral venue.  

CA later clarified that they made the call after consultations with the Australian government because of “a marked deterioration in human rights for women and girls” in Afghanistan. Breaking his silence on CA’s stance, Rashid said he was ” really hurt” by Cricket Australia pulling out of the T20Is.

“It does hurt you. You do want to play against the best teams and that’s where your cricket is going to improve more and more. You only get the opportunity playing against them [Australia] in the World Cups, but not in bilateral series,” Rashid was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Rashid felt that the series would’ve been a big learning curve for Afghanistan as playing against top-ranked teams would be hugely beneficial for the growth of the sport in the country.

“Recently, we played three T20s against India, and it helped us a lot. We nearly chased 200 [212] against India. Imagine if you wouldn’t have played that, where would the confidence come from? Playing against big teams is huge for us,” he added.

Rashid also opened up on his BBL future. He said: “You don’t want to play with my colleagues and you want to play with me. So what’s the difference? It means I’m putting my colleagues down as well. My country down as well.”

For the unversed, this was the third time CA had chosen not to play bilateral matches with Afghanistan.

In 2021, what would have been the first Test match between Australia and Afghanistan, was postponed. Last year, an ODI series was called off.

Rashid is currently playing for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Afghanistan’s national futsal team lost 3-1 against Iran in their first match in AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2024 Thailand.

This match between the national futsal teams of Afghanistan and Iran was held in the “D” group of this competition in Bangkok, Thailand.

Mehran Ghulami scored the only goal for Afghanistan.

The national futsal players will face Kuwait in their second game next week.

Afghanistan is in the same group as Iran, Bahrain and Kuwait in the Futsal Asian Cup.

The Futsal Asian Cup is also a qualifier for the World Cup for 16. countries.