Feature: Female Afghan footballer crossing traditional barriers to make dream come true

"It is my dream to become a football star and earn honor for my country one day," Massuma Mohammadi, 22, told Xinhua at the national stadium here in Kabul on Monday.

Dressed in training gear and in between exercises with her teammates, the ambitious Mohammadi said that Afghan women are talented and like women in other countries could earn a name for themselves and their countries.

In conservative Afghanistan where traditions are deeply respected, it is very difficult if not impossible for a girl to play such sports and show her physical abilities.

However, valiant Mohammadi has been crossing the traditional barriers to realize her dream and become the first female football star in Afghanistan. "I am exercising hard to realize my dream and I will spare no efforts to achieve this noble goal," Mohammadi said.

Playing as a defender in her team, Mohammadi said that her family including her father has been supporting her to become a footballer.

Lauding the talent and hard exercises of Mohammadi, her coach Amin Amini said that she has been regularly attending training.

The Afghan National Women's Football Team was established 10 years ago and since then has made considerable progress in spite of limited resources and support, Amini said.

Nevertheless, he admitted that the national women's football team has only 22 players, hoping that the numbers would gradually increase.

In Afghanistan where traditions are deep-rooted in society, Afghan families especially in the countryside rarely allow their girls to leave home except when accompanied by close relatives.

However, the situation in big cities like Kabul is different. In the post-Taliban Afghanistan, it has changed tremendously over the past decade.

Women and girls in the post-Taliban Afghanistan, despite ongoing militancy, are attending school, university, working in offices, undertaking their own business, and promoting art and music, a progress unimaginable during the Taliban reign which collapsed in late 2001. "The Afghan National Women's Football Team has participated in the South Asian Games several times and earned reasonable results, "Amini told Xinhua at the football ground where the girls were training to improve their skill and technique.

The women's team is preparing to attend the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship 2016, Amini added.

He also said that Afghan female players would probably go to Japan for a friendly match in late September this year.

Patriarchal tribal traditions and cultural issues, however, remain as a barrier to promote the sport among girls, the trainer of the female footballers said, adding that many families don't allow their girls to play football or other sports.

However, Amini said that his trainees, all 22 women and girls are training three times a week, for an hour and a half each session at the national stadium.

Coach Amini has predicted with optimism that the courageous girls like Mohammadi and her teammates will gradually overcome the old cultural and traditional barriers to bring Afghan women on par with women in developed countries. Endi