My Beautiful Sisters : A Story of Courage, Hope and the Afghan Women’s Football Team

My Beautiful Sisters : A Story of Courage, Hope and the Afghan Women’s Football TeamAuthor: Popal, Khalida Afghanistan Published on 27 February 2025 by John Murray Press (John Murray Publishers Ltd) in the United Kingdom. Paperback softback 224 pages, N A 197 x 130 x 17 162g WINNER OF CHARLES TYRWHITT SPORTS BOOK AWARD 2025WINNER OF VIKKI ORVICE AWARD FOR WOMEN'S SPORTS WRITING 2025SHORTLISTED FOR WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024A GUARDIAN AND FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024'Riveting, heart wrenching and incredibly

Author: Popal, Khalida

Afghanistan

Published on 27 February 2025 by John Murray Press (John Murray Publishers Ltd) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback / softback | 224 pages, N/A
197 x 130 x 17 | 162g

WINNER OF CHARLES TYRWHITT SPORTS BOOK AWARD 2025WINNER OF VIKKI ORVICE AWARD FOR WOMEN'S SPORTS WRITING 2025SHORTLISTED FOR WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024A GUARDIAN AND FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024'Riveting, heart-wrenching and incredibly important . . . an inspirational story for girls and women everywhere' MALALA YOUSAFZAI, Nobel Peace Prize laureateA story of survival, sisterhood and the fight for feminism in the age of the Taliban.

August 2021: Kabul falls to the Taliban.

Overnight, life for women across Afghanistan changes.

The national women's football team faces an imminent threat to their lives, just for playing sport.

For Khalida Popal, the team's first captain and co-founder, this is not an unprecedented event. Born in Afghanistan, as a child she fled Taliban rule with her family and grew up in a refugee camp in Pakistan. On her return to Afghanistan, football gave her and her teammates power, comradeship and freedom. But advocating for women's rights in sport put Popal's life increasingly at risk, forcing her to flee the country, this time alone.

As a refugee in Denmark, Popal worked to uncover widespread sexual abuse of players by the former president of the Afghanistan Football Federation - forcing FIFA and the government of Afghanistan to act. When Kabul falls Khalida is safe, but her teammates are left behind. Against all the odds, she and a small but mighty network of allies orchestrate an international evacuation strategy to save them. My Beautiful Sisters is a gripping memoir about courage, the power of teamwork against all odds and the existence of hope in dark times.