Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Khalida Popal AI simulator
(@Khalida Popal_simulator)
Hub AI
Khalida Popal AI simulator
(@Khalida Popal_simulator)
Khalida Popal
Khalida Popal (pashto: خالده پوپل, born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1987) is an Afghan football player. Popal is the founder and director of Girl Power Organization, the Program and Event Director of the Afghanistan women's national football team, Ambassador to Street Child World Cup, and the Event Manager & Mentor/ Refugee Consultant in COLUM. She is also the former leader of the Afghanistan women's Football Committee, former Finance Officer of the Afghanistan Football Federation, former captain of the Afghan women's national football team, and former football coach of the under-17 and under-15 women's football teams in Afghanistan.
Popal was born in 1987 in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a Popalzai Pashtun family. She attended the Business Academy of Denmark, where she received a degree in international marketing management. Popal was taught how to play football by her mother, who was also a physical education teacher. Her mother focused on the power of sport for women and how it can open up new opportunities for young girls.[citation needed]
As a teenage woman playing soccer, Popal was highly vulnerable to discrimination and oppression as the war in Afghanistan continued and the Taliban began to take over areas around Kabul. Kabul, a major city in Afghanistan, was marred by conflict where women had little to no human rights. During this time, the Taliban banned women from playing sports and attending sporting events. In order to avoid being seen playing football by men, Popal and her friends played after school in an isolated yard. Although forbidden, more and more girls joined Popal in playing football after school. Empowered by the growth in the number of young girls playing, Popal eventually moved the playing area into public fields. Even though the Taliban's reign over Afghanistan ended in 2001, Popal still faced the threat and vision of her local community. Many in her community disapproved of young girls playing football and began throwing stones and declaring them "prostitutes" for playing football.
In 2007, with the approval and support of the Afghan Football Association, Popal formed the Afghan women's football league with her friends. For their safety, the team practised inside a NATO base in Kabul and the team played their first game in Pakistan in 2008. The team's first-ever match was against the International Security Assistance Forces XI. They won 5–0. In December 2010, the team played their first international match, losing 13–0 against Nepal at the South Asian Women's Football Championship in Bangladesh. As the team grew and eventually began to have success in football, Popal became a higher-profile target for extremist and anti-women groups.
In 2011, Popal received numerous death threats and decided to leave Afghanistan. She left Kabul and made her way to India. She was constantly on the move in India as she had no visa. From India she made her way to Norway seeking further asylum, due to her lacking a visa for India. Popal eventually landed in Denmark, where she lived in a refugee camp for nearly a year before she was granted residency. Popal sought to play for a local team, but she suffered a serious knee injury that prevented her from playing football again.[citation needed]
Soon after sustaining the injury to her knee, Popal became highly depressed. She turned down opportunities to start swimming and cycling. In an interview in 2017, Popal stated “Suddenly I was losing everything. I’d lost my country, my identity, I was in an asylum centre, I’d lost my family, I couldn’t play. I felt like a doll hanging in the air. I could not fly in the sky and I could not come to the ground."[citation needed] Popal sought help from psychiatrists and began taking antidepressants.[citation needed]
After sustaining a career-ending injury, Popal turned her attention to working with women in refugee camps. She focused on teaching them the power of sports as a therapeutic and empowering practice. She formed the organization titled Girl Power, which focuses heavily on giving women in minority communities the chance to meet others like them and develop better self-esteem and confidence through sport. The organization's goal is to use sport as a way to motivate and empower minority groups in Europe. Such groups include immigrants, refugee women, and members of the LGBT community. The organization strives to create awareness and understanding of different cultures in order to promote religious and racial tolerance in European societies. Girl power finds volunteer instructors to work in all sports with refugees and strives to connect them and with local Danish citizens.
Popal is also an ambassador to Street Child World Cup. Street Child World Cup is an organization that puts together sporting events for children that live in the streets to participate in. Before major world sporting events, including the 2018 World Cup, Street Child World Cup brings together children living in poverty and on the streets to play in organized games and tournaments. These tournaments offer areas of safety and empowerment for the children. Children are able to interact with others, the greater community, and through visual art-work and organized community events, share their stories and experiences with the world.
Khalida Popal
Khalida Popal (pashto: خالده پوپل, born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1987) is an Afghan football player. Popal is the founder and director of Girl Power Organization, the Program and Event Director of the Afghanistan women's national football team, Ambassador to Street Child World Cup, and the Event Manager & Mentor/ Refugee Consultant in COLUM. She is also the former leader of the Afghanistan women's Football Committee, former Finance Officer of the Afghanistan Football Federation, former captain of the Afghan women's national football team, and former football coach of the under-17 and under-15 women's football teams in Afghanistan.
Popal was born in 1987 in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a Popalzai Pashtun family. She attended the Business Academy of Denmark, where she received a degree in international marketing management. Popal was taught how to play football by her mother, who was also a physical education teacher. Her mother focused on the power of sport for women and how it can open up new opportunities for young girls.[citation needed]
As a teenage woman playing soccer, Popal was highly vulnerable to discrimination and oppression as the war in Afghanistan continued and the Taliban began to take over areas around Kabul. Kabul, a major city in Afghanistan, was marred by conflict where women had little to no human rights. During this time, the Taliban banned women from playing sports and attending sporting events. In order to avoid being seen playing football by men, Popal and her friends played after school in an isolated yard. Although forbidden, more and more girls joined Popal in playing football after school. Empowered by the growth in the number of young girls playing, Popal eventually moved the playing area into public fields. Even though the Taliban's reign over Afghanistan ended in 2001, Popal still faced the threat and vision of her local community. Many in her community disapproved of young girls playing football and began throwing stones and declaring them "prostitutes" for playing football.
In 2007, with the approval and support of the Afghan Football Association, Popal formed the Afghan women's football league with her friends. For their safety, the team practised inside a NATO base in Kabul and the team played their first game in Pakistan in 2008. The team's first-ever match was against the International Security Assistance Forces XI. They won 5–0. In December 2010, the team played their first international match, losing 13–0 against Nepal at the South Asian Women's Football Championship in Bangladesh. As the team grew and eventually began to have success in football, Popal became a higher-profile target for extremist and anti-women groups.
In 2011, Popal received numerous death threats and decided to leave Afghanistan. She left Kabul and made her way to India. She was constantly on the move in India as she had no visa. From India she made her way to Norway seeking further asylum, due to her lacking a visa for India. Popal eventually landed in Denmark, where she lived in a refugee camp for nearly a year before she was granted residency. Popal sought to play for a local team, but she suffered a serious knee injury that prevented her from playing football again.[citation needed]
Soon after sustaining the injury to her knee, Popal became highly depressed. She turned down opportunities to start swimming and cycling. In an interview in 2017, Popal stated “Suddenly I was losing everything. I’d lost my country, my identity, I was in an asylum centre, I’d lost my family, I couldn’t play. I felt like a doll hanging in the air. I could not fly in the sky and I could not come to the ground."[citation needed] Popal sought help from psychiatrists and began taking antidepressants.[citation needed]
After sustaining a career-ending injury, Popal turned her attention to working with women in refugee camps. She focused on teaching them the power of sports as a therapeutic and empowering practice. She formed the organization titled Girl Power, which focuses heavily on giving women in minority communities the chance to meet others like them and develop better self-esteem and confidence through sport. The organization's goal is to use sport as a way to motivate and empower minority groups in Europe. Such groups include immigrants, refugee women, and members of the LGBT community. The organization strives to create awareness and understanding of different cultures in order to promote religious and racial tolerance in European societies. Girl power finds volunteer instructors to work in all sports with refugees and strives to connect them and with local Danish citizens.
Popal is also an ambassador to Street Child World Cup. Street Child World Cup is an organization that puts together sporting events for children that live in the streets to participate in. Before major world sporting events, including the 2018 World Cup, Street Child World Cup brings together children living in poverty and on the streets to play in organized games and tournaments. These tournaments offer areas of safety and empowerment for the children. Children are able to interact with others, the greater community, and through visual art-work and organized community events, share their stories and experiences with the world.