2012: Afghanistan Football in Review

We are some hours away from 2013 and I look back to the ups and downs of football in Afghanistan in 2012. Overall, it was an unproductive year of football for Afghanistan on international level, but very productive in terms of domestic football.

National Men Team: Afghanistan did not take part in any official or friendly fixtures in 2012. That dropped Afghanistan 24 places on FIFA ranking. While Afghanistan's participation in the Nehru Cup was confirmed initially, at the end Afghanistan did not participate. Furthermore, Afghanistan rejected the invitation of Pakistan Football Federation to play friendlies on two occasions. These all proved how the achievements can be compromised as the result of ineffectiveness of the Football Federation.

Afghanistan Women Team: While it was a quite year for the men's team, the women's team started the year on a high. In February, Afghanistan defeated Qatar 2-0 in a friendly in Doha. This was the first victory for Afghanistan in an international fixture. In the SAFF Championship, Afghanistan drew with Maldives, but defeated Pakistan with 4-0 scoreline. In spite of 7-1 defeat in the match with host Nepal, Afghanistan qualified for the semi-final where it was eventually eliminated by India. Afghanistan used a mixed of players from domestic players and a number of US and Germany based players.

U14 National Team: Afghanistan won the South and Central Asian Festival, however, it did not have a good showing in the South Asian Countries tournament which was held in Japan. In other levels, Afghanistan did not bother to participate in official matches.

Afghanistan Premier League: For many years, it was my wish to witness the launch of a national league. In 2012, it came true and Afghanistan launched the first ever premier league. Eight teams were selected by a pool of AFF coaches. The teams represented 8 regions of the country which were divided in two groups of four teams, with semi-final and final matches staged after the group stage. Toofan Harirood won the title eventually beating Simorgh Alborz in the final match. Overall, it was a very well organized tournament with all matches broadcasted live on TV, radio and youtube. The tournament created the basis for future improvements of football and brought football to the homes of Afghans.

Afghans in Foreign Leagues: Islam Amiri continued his association with Mumbai FC for the second season, this time as the skipper. His team is now in 5th place in the I-League. Jalal Sharityar left the Cyprus League and joined Al-Hadd in Bahrain's Premier League. His team is now second in the League. Balal Arzoo is still with Asker, but his team failed to promote to the second tier league in Norway. Yousef Mashriqi had a two week long training with Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan, but he did not agree on the terms of the contract with the Uzbek side. The others continued in their previous teams in the second or lower tiers of European leagues.

Elsewhere, provincial leagues continued like the previous years with Herat, Kabul, Balkh and Kandahar pioneering in terms of holding different categories of provincial tournaments. Meanwhile, the work on a number of football stadiums initiated this year. Ghazi stadium was also covered by a turf pitch.

While 2012 is gone, all eyes are on 2013. A lot is expected in 2013. A better improved national league is expected, the national is expected qualify for the final stage of the AFC Challenge Cup and also make a good drive in the SAFF Championship. In addition, Afghanistan is participating in the AFC U16 and U19 Qualifiers and SAFF U16 Qualifiers. It is still to be seen if Afghanistan experiences a productive year year of football in 2013. Happy new year!