‘Getting worse and worse’: former Afghanistan captain’s anger at state of football in his country

When Zohib Islam Amiri came back to play in Afghanistan in January for the first time since 2010, he was hoping to make a difference. “I wanted to try to give some of the young Afghan kids some inspiration,” he says. “But as soon as I got there it was clear that things were even worse.”

Amiri, who made his international debut as a 15-year-old in 2005 before serving as captain for more than a decade, became the first Afghanistan player to move overseas when he joined Mumbai in 2011. The defender’s return to play for Abu Muslim in the Afghanistan Champions League – a competition set up in 2021 when the Taliban regained power – was never intended to be the end of his career. But having seen his side crowned champions after a controversial 8-0 victory amid allegations of match-fixing, Amiri decided enough was enough.

The target of his anger is the president of the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF), Mohammad Kargar. “President Kargar is still putting all the money in his own pockets and not investing in the grassroots,” Amiri says by way of example. Kargar denies this but for Amiri there is no turning back.

“The motivation is not there,” he says. “For the last 20 years I’ve had this hope that maybe we can change something for the next generation. But when you see every year it’s getting worse and worse … my energy and power has gone, to be honest. I’ve given everything for the country and to see what has been happening to our football under Kargar’s leadership is very sad.”

Kargar, a former player and coach who was national champion in skiing as a teenager, took over as president of the AFF in January 2019 when his predecessor, Keramuudin Karim, was banned from football for life by Fifa after being accused of sexual abuse. Kargar has denied claims of fixing two matches during an international men’s tournament in 2008 in Malaysia in his spell as Afghanistan coach and has been accused of corruption as president, including claims first made in the Guardian last year that the AFF had been misappropriating funds intended for investment in developing football in the country. He and the AFF deny the allegations.

Twenty-one players went on strike for the World Cup qualifiers at the start of 2024 against Qatar and Kuwait that Afghanistan lost heavily under the English coach Ashley Westwood. He lasted only nine months despite recording a historic victory over India before drawing the return match with the Asian champions, Qatar. “But then Kargar thought maybe it’s a little risky to have an outsider involved and he decided to get rid of him,” says Amiri, who worked closely with Westwood and helped out with some of the coaching during the former Crewe and Sheffield Wednesday defender’s spell.

Amiri alleges that after last June’s 0-0 draw against Qatar in Saudi Arabia – where Afghanistan have been playing since the AFF signed a deal last year for the country to host their home matches – the players were paid only a fraction of the bonuses promised six months earlier.

“Kargar came to tell all the players that they [the AFF] had $60,000 and we would get $500 each whenever the money comes through,” he says. “The months went by and we didn’t see any money so we asked what was happening. Kargar came up with lots of excuses about how it had been delayed. We played our game against Qatar and the next day he gave us $100 each. We could not believe it. For the last year when the other boys boycotted the team, then I realised what had been going on. Sometimes when you’re a player, you don’t know what is happening in the background. But when Ashley came in I started getting more involved with coaching and I was shocked to see what was going on.”

There have been claims that some AFF staff have not been paid their salaries for the past three years, Fifa having been unable to provide its full allocation of funding from its Fifa Forward programme since 2023 owing to banking restrictions and the political situation under the Taliban. Kargar has insisted that the AFF remains independent, but sources inside Afghanistan believe the Taliban has taken a close interest in the federation’s affairs over the past three years.

“No one in the AFF can move without order of the Taliban,” says one. “They are involved in everything. Some of the provincial federation presidents have been suspended because they did not accept their orders.”

Amiri says: “Kargar is playing clever games. He sends emails to Fifa telling them not to hold new elections because it’s not safe under the Taliban. But then on the other hand he is staying close to the Taliban to keep hold of his power. Fifa has to investigate.”

Kargar has denied all allegations of corruption and said in a reply to a series of questions from the Guardian that “individuals spreading these reports are pursuing their personal interests and are outside the country, unaware of the realities within Afghanistan”. He also said that the AFF has had “no interference” from the Taliban.

“From the beginning, we have explained to the Taliban that the AFF is a non-governmental entity operating under the regulations of Fifa and AFC [the Asian Football Confederation],” he said. “The Taliban has officially issued a letter stating that they support Afghanistan’s football activities. This letter has also been shared with Fifa and AFC.”

A Fifa spokesperson said: “Fifa is continuing to monitor the situation very closely and remains in contact with the Afghan Football Federation and other stakeholders.”

Amiri, having hung up his boots at 37, is completing his coaching qualifications in the United Arab Emirates as he begins the next stage of his career and has called for elections to decide whether Kargar should remain in power.

“As a former Afghanistan captain, I have to speak up about what is going on,” he says. “We have to fix this. If I don’t do this now then how can I look myself in the mirror when I’m older knowing that I didn’t take action? I’m a servant of the country and I don’t want to see someone destroying everything in our football. The other boys have tried but nothing has changed. All we can hope is that Fifa will listen to us and try to help. We have to have an election.”