Sport in Afghanistan

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Sport in Afghanistan is managed by the Afghan Sports Federation (ASF).^[1] Currently, cricket and association football are the most popular sports in Afghanistan.^[2][3][4] The ASF has promoted many types of sports, including basketball, mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, bodybuilding, bowling, cricket, football, golf, mountaineering, paragliding, skating, skiing, snooker, taekwondo, track and field, volleyball, and weightlifting.^[5][6] The traditional games of Afghanistan include buzkashi and tent pegging.^[7][8]

Cricket

Cricket is one of the most popular sports in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan national cricket team's win over Namibia in Krugersdorp earned them official One Day International status in April 2009. The Afghanistan Cricket Board is Afghanistan's representative at the International Cricket Council and was an associate member of ICC from June 2013 to 2017. It is also a member of the Asian Cricket Council. Afghanistan became a full member of the International Cricket Council on 22 June 2017, entitling the national team to participate in official Test matches. Afghanistan's playing season runs from May to September. There are 320 cricket clubs and 6 turf wickets in Afghanistan.^[9]

The Afghanistan national cricket team have qualified for the last 3 Cricket World Cup tournaments. The last being in 2023.^[10][11] On 28 December 2019, Rashid Khan was named the ICC Men's T20I Player of the Decade and in the ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Decade.^[12]

Football

The Afghanistan national football team was formed in 1922, joining FIFA in 1948 and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1954. Afghanistan's only appearance and first FIFA international match was at the Olympic Games football tournament in the 1948 Summer Olympic Games when they played Luxembourg on 26 July 1948 and lost 6–0.^[13][14]

The national stadium, which was built during the reign of King Amanullah Khan, has been used for football matches between teams from different provinces of the country as well as neighboring countries. In the national level, football matches are played between provinces or regions.^[15]

The country's first international trophy was achieved in the 2013 edition of the SAFF Championship.

Futsal

On 26 October 2007, Afghanistan national futsal team played their first game against Thailand in Macau, China. This was also their biggest loss, losing to Thailand 23-0.

In the first edition of the CAFA Futsal Cup, the country came second in the 2023 CAFA Futsal Cup.

On 11 October 2023, Afghanistan's claimed their biggest win by 18-2 against Macau in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Afghanistan qualified for the 2024 AFC Futsal Asian Cup, making it their first appearance in the AFC Futsal Asian Cup after going undefeated in the qualification competition.

Mixed martial arts

Afghans have taken a recent interest in mixed martial arts (MMA).^{[16][17][18][19][20][21]} There are several gyms in Afghanistan which promote the sport and have fighters. Siyar Bahadurzada is an Afghan former MMA fighter who competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was known for holding and wearing the Afghan flag around himself before and after his professional fights.

Javid Basharat and Farid Basharat became the first brother tandem to compete in the same division in the UFC.^[22][23] Other popular Afghan MMA fighters are Baz Mohammad Mubariz and Nasrat Haqparast.^{[24][25][26][27][28]}

Taekwondo

The sport of taekwondo has thrived in Afghanistan in the last two decades. Some of the Afghan taekwondo practitioners include Bashir Taraki, Farzad Mansouri, Hussain Sadiqi, Mohsen Rezaee, Rohullah Nikpai, and Zakia Khudadadi.^[29]

Nikpai's medal tally summary in the Olympics:

• Bronze in 2008 Olympics
• Bronze in 2012 Olympics

Basketball

Basketball was first played in Afghanistan in 1936. In 1966, the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee (ANOC) founded the Afghanistan national basketball team after receiving challenges from India and Pakistan.^[30]

Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding is widely enjoyed in Afghanistan, and the country is a member of the International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness (IFBB). An Afghan by the name of Ali Reza Asahi won a gold medal in the 2023 World Bodybuilding Championships, which was held in Seoul, South Korea.^[31] Another named Mohammad Ayoub Azami won a silver medal in the same competition.^[32][33] Ahmad Yasin Salik Qaderi ("Mr. Muscles") became the overall winner of the 2017 WBPF World Championship, which was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.^[34][35][36]

Other sports

Other sports in which Afghans participate include boxing, bowling, buzkashi, judo, kickboxing, mountaineering, paragliding, rugby, sandrailling, skating, skiing, swimming, team handball, track and field, volleyball, weightlifting, and a number of others.^{[7][37][5][38][39][6][40]} Saleh Mohammad is a former professional Afghan snooker player, who previously represented Pakistan in international competitions but later represented Afghanistan.^[41]

In 2012, Afghanistan also became a member of the Federation of International Bandy.^[42][43]

In 2015, Afghanistan held its first marathon; among those who ran the entire marathon was one woman, Zainab, age 25, who thus became the first Afghan woman to run in a marathon within her own country.^[44]

Stadiums and gymnasiums

There are stadiums and gymnasiums in most cities of Afghanistan, some of which were built before the 1980s. In 2010, the Afghanistan Cricket Board announced that the government was planning to construct standard cricket grounds in all 34 provinces in the next two years.^[45][46]

The following are some of the major stadiums in Afghanistan (by capacity):

#	Name	Location	Capacity	Sport	Image
1	Kabul International Cricket Stadium	Kabul	35,000[47]	Cricket
2	Kabul Football Stadium	Kabul	25,000	Football
3	Kandahar Football Stadium	Kandahar	20,000	Football
4	Ghazi Amanullah International Cricket Stadium	Ghazi Amanullah Town	14,000	Cricket
5	Kandahar International Cricket Stadium	Kandahar	9,000[48]	Cricket
6	Sherzai Cricket Stadium	Jalalabad		Cricket
7	Khost Cricket Stadium	Khost	8,000[48]	Cricket
8	Helmand Cricket Stadium	Lashkar Gah[49]	8,000[48]	Cricket
9	Laghman Cricket Stadium[50]	Mihtarlam	7,000[48]	Cricket
10	Paktia Cricket Stadium	Gardez	6,000[48]	Cricket
11	Panjshir Football Stadium	Panjshir Valley		Football
12	Paktika Cricket Stadium	Sharana	5,000[48]	Cricket
13	Ghazni Football Stadium	Ghazni	5,000[51]	Football
14	Herat Football Stadium	Herat		Football
15	Zabul Cricket Stadium	Qalat[52]	4,000[48]	Cricket

See also

• Lists of stadiums

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sports in Afghanistan.

This page was last edited on 13 April 2024, at 03:11