When India takes the field against Afghanistan on Thursday in the World Cup qualifier in Abha, Saudi Arabia, the Blue Tigers will face a weakened opposition, with several key players opting to boycott the national team.
After the team’s first-round World Cup qualifiers against Mongolia in October, as many as 21 national team players, including its three senior players – Noor Hussin, Faysel Shayesteh and Farshad Noor – sent letters to the world governing body FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation alleging poor treatment by the Afghanistan Football Federation.
Only eight players who were part of the full-strength squad for the Mongolia doubleheader are available for head coach Ashley Westwood, who took over in November last year, for the matches against India this month.
Unpaid wages to players, the decision to shift its home base to Saudi Arabia from Tajikistan and the federation’s decision to appoint a new head coach without the players’ consultation are the key issues that Shayestesh has cited in their decision to boycott the national team.
Despite the change in coach, five players, namely Shayesteh, Noor, Hussin, Najim Haidary and Imran Hydary, remain staunch in their protest until the fulfilment of the promises.
“I am standing on that until the end until something changes [in Afghanistan football],” Shayesteh tells Sportstar.
Shayesteh, who plays for I-League side Sreenidi Deccan, says the issue regarding unpaid wages dates back to 2022 during its failed AFC Asian Cup third-round qualifiers in Kolkata.
“The reason given was the problems going on in Afghanistan with the Taliban and that FIFA had blocked the money that they were supposed to give each year to the federation. But all those people who worked in the federation got their money and salaries. They also signed contracts for new sponsorship deals for our home games,” according to Shayesteh, who has 52 caps for his country.
The pedigree of the previous head coach, Abdullah Al Muttairi who was appointed last year, also came under scrutiny during their meeting with president Mohammad Yousef Kargar. Kargar also faces allegations of match-fixing by former players, which he denies. The AFF has been mired in controversy in recent years, with Kargar’s predecessor Keramuudin Karim handed a lifetime ban by FIFA after he was found guilty of sexually and physically abusing the players of the female national team in 2018.
“They signed a coach from Kuwait, Abdullah Al Muttairi. We went to play against Mongolia in the first-round qualifiers, but we didn’t have a physio or a manager, and we still managed to qualify under these circumstances. The coach was not up to the standards. In the last conversation before the Mongolia game with the president, he said ‘You guys qualify, we will sit together, and we will manage to bring in a new coach.’ He said ‘It’s most important that the players also have a say in the profile of the coach who comes in’,” Shayesteh adds.
The Afghanistan Federation’s decision to move its home base to Saudi Arabia has also not gone well with the players. Abha, where Afghanistan will take on India, is 2270 meters above sea level, which Shayesteh feels will be disadvantageous to the home side and calls the move ‘strange’.
“When we played our Qatar World Cup qualifiers in Tajikistan, it was tough to beat us there. They didn’t think about this and sold the games to Saudi only for their benefit and not for the national team’s. There will be no advantages for us in Saudi as the temperature there will be hot. Most of our players come from Europe. They also said the deal with Saudi will help them clear the wages,” says the 32-year-old.
And just before the players sought to meet the president again for a discussion, Shayesteh says the president took the row public and threw them under the bus. “But he didn’t keep any of the promises. The president went to the media and claimed the national team players were foreign players who wanted to play only for money and not the country. That was very bad of him. So the players said we don’t want to play for the national team, and we want to boycott.”
The expanded 48-team World Cup in 2026, which doubles the AFC qualification slots, would have provided a strong chance for Afghanistan to make it into the third round of qualifiers.
“It was difficult, but this boycott is not about us - it is bigger than that. I have been playing for more than 10 years for the national team. I have seen coaches come and go and presidents change, but nothing has changed in terms of local players that we have to develop. Every time a new coach or president comes, everything starts over again. The national team doesn’t develop. There is no basic organisation to continue and develop. This boycott is a means to change things in a good way for the future of Afghanistan football,” says the attacking midfielder.
While disappointed with some players backtracking from their original stance to play for the national team, Shayesteh feels his decision is the only way for Afghanistan football to move forward.
He says, “I want to say that the main reason for this boycott is not the promises we got from our federation. As a national team player, you have the responsibility to represent your country in the best possible way. But if the federation only thinks about its benefits it will be hard to work together and achieve success.
“I can be quiet and play my games and probably get 100 caps for my nation, but that will be very selfish. I am thinking about the future of our football. We need to change the way we want to work. We need to build a a strong local league, develop future stars like all other nations do and not sign contracts with companies like Emirates and put money in our own pockets.”
Comments
SHARE