What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Afghanistan?

Taliban? Of course.

Osama Bin Laden? Sure.

An official football league of its own? Huh?

An official league which has a women’s division and which offers free live streaming on YouTube?

Wait, what?

The Afghan Premier League is Afghanistan’s topmost football league, with eight teams from different regions of the country participating in it. But what distinguishes it from many other football leagues in the world is that it has its own women’s division, with eight teams from independent clubs competing.

What’s more, each match is streamed live on YouTube. Contrast that to India where there is still no sign of a women’s league happening any time soon.

Their matches may not attract any spectators to the stadium, leaving the tribunes completely empty, as the Associated Press reported, but they sure have come a long way since women could not even dream of being on a football pitch under the rule of the Taliban, during which women were forbidden from practicing sports.

As for the quality of football on display, the current topmost comment on the thread by rip_lyl on reddit probably sums up the debate perfectly. “The quality of play is far beyond the point; they're women in an oppressive country that get to express themselves with the game they love. I don't want to sound ...pretentious ... but this is quite inspiring”