BBC News

Bea Ward never imagined she’d make theatre history at 16—but that’s exactly what she’s done.

The teen actress from Leominster, Herefordshire, has become the youngest performer ever to take on the lead role of Kim in Miss Saigon, which opened its UK tour this week at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre.

“It’s kind of crazy,” Ward said. “I never thought I’d do that. I’m just really grateful.”

The role of Kim, a young Vietnamese woman caught in the chaos of war and love during the fall of Saigon, is typically played by actresses closer to 18. Ward, still just 16, wasn’t expecting to be considered at all.

“When I got the call back and kept getting them and the email saying they wanted to see me back again, I started to realise it was getting real,” she said.

Her performance in Miss Saigon comes after an already impressive start to her career. Ward previously appeared in Hollywood’s production of Wicked and describes the ride so far as a “wild journey.”

“I never thought I’d be here in my life but I’m just soaking it all in.”

Despite her rising star status, Ward has never had any formal acting or vocal training. She’s learned everything on the job—observing, absorbing, and trusting her instincts.

“I just take on what is given to me and learn from other people, feel what’s wrong and what’s right,” she said.

For anyone dreaming of following in her footsteps, Ward has simple advice. “This sounds really cringey,” she said, “but if you believe in yourself and you have that inner confidence, you can truly do anything you want to do.”

The story of Miss Saigon—a sweeping love story inspired by real events during the Vietnam War—resonates deeply with Ward, who called the show an “epic love story journey.”

“It follows this 17-year-old runaway from war and falling in love with an American guy, which is such a true story for so many Vietnamese people during the fall of Saigon,” she said. “I’m really honoured to share the story and continue its legacy.”

As the curtain rises on the UK tour, Ward’s name is already etched in the show’s history—and she’s just getting started.

At Just 16 Years Old, This Actress is Making History in Miss Saigon

Bowhead whales can live for more than 200 years. That longevity, combined with their massive size and millions of cells, should make them prime candidates for developing cancer. But they don’t. In fact, there’s never been a documented case of a malignant tumor in a bowhead whale.

That mystery led researchers to take a closer look. What they found, published in Nature, could open up new ways to prevent or treat cancer—not just in whales, but potentially in humans too.

“This charming little whale is doing something remarkable,” said biologist Vera Gorbunova from the University of Rochester. “Instead of eliminating malignant cells, they maintain their cells better so they don’t accumulate as many mutations.”

It’s part of a growing field known as comparative oncology, which looks at how different species evolve resistance to cancer. The central mystery it tackles is called Peto’s paradox—the idea that large, long-lived animals should get more cancer than small ones, simply because they have more cells and more time for those cells to mutate. But they don’t.

Gorbunova and her team set out to investigate what the bowhead’s secret might be. Instead of finding lots of tumor-suppressing genes like in elephants—who carry 20 copies of a gene called p53, compared to just one in humans—they discovered something else entirely: superior cell maintenance.

The whales produce large quantities of a protein called CIRBP, short for cold-inducible RNA-binding protein. It helps fix breaks in DNA, which is crucial because if breaks aren’t repaired correctly, they can lead to cancer. And bowhead whales are very good at DNA repair—two to three times better than humans, according to the study.

“They were not losing pieces of DNA,” Gorbunova said. “They were fusing the ends correctly.”

The team took it a step further. When they made human cells overproduce CIRBP, those cells became more efficient at repairing DNA damage. When they did the same in fruit flies, the insects lived longer and became more resistant to mutations.

That’s where things get interesting for humans.

“The most important take-home message for us is that there is room for improvement,” Gorbunova said. “If we understand the mechanism of longevity in this exceptionally long-lived mammal, maybe we can find a way to clinically translate this mechanism to benefit human health.”

Gorbunova credits the Indigenous Iñupiaq community in Barrow, Alaska, for making the research possible. Bowhead whales are hunted there for subsistence, and with permission, her team was given small tissue samples to study. In turn, she hopes this research could one day help the Inuit, whose communities face rising cancer rates.

The CIRBP protein is triggered by cold—fitting for whales that thrive in frigid Arctic waters. Instead of constantly eliminating damaged cells, as elephants do, bowheads seem to avoid damage in the first place by focusing on long-term cell upkeep.

“The strategy of the whale is to invest in maintenance rather than clean up,” Gorbunova explained.

Scientists outside the study say it’s a promising development. “We want to be able to treat cancer better in humans,” said Amy Boddy, an evolutionary biologist at UC Santa Barbara. “And so it’s really exciting to know that animals have evolved different pathways to live long and defend against cancer.”

Boddy also sees a conservation angle here. “We should protect against poaching because they are these amazing, magical creatures that can maybe one day help human health,” she said.

Still, there are limits. DNA repair is energy-intensive, and there are likely trade-offs. And as evolutionary biologist Vincent Lynch pointed out, this is just the start.

“We have literally uncovered a handful of the mechanisms that are responsible for their cancer resistance,” he said. “There’s going to be a whole lot more to identify, which is cool because it gives us something to do.”

For Gorbunova, that’s exactly the point. “If we only study very short-lived organisms, we cannot really find longevity mechanisms because they don’t have them,” she said.

It turns out, animals that survive for two centuries may have a lot to teach us about staying alive.

Bowhead Whales Might Hold the Key to Fighting Cancer — Here’s Why

Science Alert

A scoop of fiber a day could be doing more than just keeping your digestion in check—it might also be helping your brain.

A first-of-its-kind study from King’s College London found that daily doses of common plant-based fiber supplements improved memory in people over 60, offering a potentially affordable way to support brain health in aging populations.

Researchers studied 36 pairs of twins, giving one twin from each pair a mix of prebiotic fiber and protein daily, while the other received a placebo. After three months, the twins who took the real supplement scored higher on memory and learning tests—specifically the same visual test often used to flag early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

“We are excited to see these changes in just 12 weeks,” said Mary Ni Lochlainn, a geriatric medicine researcher at King’s College London. “This holds huge promise for enhancing brain health and memory in our aging population.”

The supplements tested were inulin and fructooligosaccharide (FOS)—two types of prebiotic fibers that are widely available over the counter and often used in food products. Prebiotics aren’t digested in the stomach; instead, they travel to the colon where they help fuel the growth of healthy gut bacteria.

One such group of microbes, Bifidobacterium, appeared in greater numbers in those taking inulin or FOS. Studies on mice have suggested that Bifidobacterium may help reduce cognitive decline by supporting communication along the gut-brain axis.

“Unlocking the secrets of the gut-brain axis could offer new approaches for living more healthily for longer,” Ni Lochlainn said.

The study, published in Nature Communications, adds to a growing body of research linking gut health and brain function. Some scientists now refer to the gut as the body’s “second brain” due to its influence on the nervous system, immune function, and mental health. But exactly how this relationship works is still largely unknown.

King’s College London hosts the UK’s largest adult twin registry, giving researchers a unique chance to examine how genetics and environment affect health. By studying twins, the team could isolate the impact of the supplement more clearly.

While cognitive performance showed improvement, the supplements didn’t appear to help with muscle mass or physical strength, which had also been monitored during the trial. Still, researchers believe the changes in gut bacteria could play a key role in protecting cognitive function.

“These plant fibers, which are cheap and available over the counter, could benefit a wide group of people in these cash-strapped times. They are safe and acceptable too,” said Claire Steves, a geriatrician at KCL.

Researchers now plan to expand the study to include larger and more diverse groups, and to test whether the improvements hold up over longer periods.

Most of the participants in this initial trial were female, a factor the researchers accounted for, though they acknowledge it may have introduced some bias. On the other hand, women are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, which adds weight to the findings.

Other recent research has linked the gut microbiome to conditions like multiple sclerosis. In 2025, scientists found that people with a lower ratio of Bifidobacterium to Akkermansia had more severe symptoms, both in humans and in mice.

That broader connection between gut health and disease is gaining ground. Feeding your microbiome with the right fibers might eventually help in fighting a range of conditions—not just cognitive decline.

For now, the study offers an intriguing takeaway: what’s good for your gut might also be good for your brain. And that might start with something as simple as a scoop of fiber in your morning smoothie.

Study Finds Cheap Daily Supplement Boosts Brain Function In Older Adults

Running through wind, rain, and freezing cold for 24 hours might sound like a punishment to some. For Oliver Gooch, it was personal.

The 35-year-old from Blackpool ran more than 400 laps around Stanley Park's sports track last weekend—through the height of Storm Claudia—to shine a light on men’s mental health. He ended up clocking 95 miles (about 153 kilometres), the same distance as running from Blackpool to Manchester and back.

"I wanted to do it in memory of him," Gooch said, referring to a close friend who died by suicide five years ago. “Wanting to bring a change is something I’m passionate about.”

This isn’t his first endurance feat. Last year, Gooch ran nearly 250 miles (about 400 kilometres) from the Blackpool pier to Brighton’s seafront. That effort raised £2,500 for Movember, the global charity focused on men’s health.

This time, the run was about more than just fundraising—it was about confronting a crisis in his hometown.

A recent national study of coroners' court data showed that Blackpool has the highest rate of deaths in England linked to alcohol, drug abuse, and suicide. Between 2019 and 2021, about 46,200 people in England died in this way—roughly 42 deaths every single day. Blackpool topped the list with a rate of 83.8 such deaths per 100,000 people, compared to just 14.5 in Barnet, Greater London, the area with the lowest rate.

"It was important for me to do it in Blackpool as it's my hometown," Gooch said.

He began his run at 5pm on Friday and battled relentless conditions through the night. “The middle of the night was probably the hardest,” he told BBC Radio Lancashire. But people showed up. Friends and supporters ran laps with him. That, he said, kept him going.

"I think there's still a stigma about men talking about mental health," he said, "but I think year on year there's improvements being made."

Gooch doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but he hopes his actions get people talking. And maybe, for someone out there struggling, that could be the difference.

Man Runs 95 Miles in Storm to Raise Awareness for Men's Mental Health

In a first-of-its-kind move, the NHS has opened a dedicated boxing gym in south-east London aimed at improving mental health — not through sparring, but through the therapeutic, non-contact side of the sport.

The gym, located at the Goldie Leigh site in Abbey Wood, Bexley, is part of a 10-year partnership between the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and mental health charity Off The Ropes. It will serve a wide range of users, including those living with learning disabilities, Parkinson’s, dementia, and other neurological or mental health conditions.

The initiative is the brainchild of Warren Dunkley, a former professional boxer and NHS occupational therapist with 25 years of experience. He founded Off The Ropes after discovering how powerful boxing could be as a mental health tool while working on a ward.

“A few [clients] found out that I used to box and then said, ‘Can you bring your pads in, can we do some boxing training?’ and then it has kind of just took off from there,” Dunkley said.

The sessions are strictly non-contact, focusing on movement, rhythm, and focus — and for many, they’ve become a lifeline.

“It’s ticking two boxes for me,” Dunkley said. “I like helping people and I like my job as an occupational therapist, but I get to do my passion of boxing as well.”

A Workout for the Mind

What began with one weekly session has expanded to three sessions a week across acute, intensive care, and female wards. Now, with its own dedicated gym space on the NHS estate, Off The Ropes has a home to grow.

Josh Nelson, who was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder as a teenager, has been boxing for 15 years and is now a coach at the gym.

“I can have a manic episode where everything is really heightened. I can also be the total opposite,” he said. “Boxing has helped a great deal. It’s instilled discipline in me, focus, to keep working hard and not giving up.”

Lauren Louise, another long-time participant, says boxing helped her find a confidence she didn’t know she had.

“Boxing brings out a side to me that I never used to think I had. It brought out my confidence,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what level of boxing you are. It’s the fact that you can come here and do what you’re capable of doing.”

Rethinking NHS Spaces

With the number of people accessing NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services rising sharply — up nearly 40% since before the pandemic — Oxleas chief executive Dr. Ife Okocha says the need for innovative, community-rooted approaches is greater than ever.

“What we don’t want is people struggling to find commercial properties when we can support them and make sure that the NHS estate is also not just a health facility, but a wellbeing facility for communities that we serve,” said Dr. Okocha.

He hopes the Off The Ropes gym will serve as a model for other NHS trusts — a way of reimagining unused spaces as hubs for healing and empowerment.

For Dunkley, it's simple: “Boxing gives people a sense of control. A sense of progress. And in mental health, that’s everything.”

UK Health System Opens Boxing Gym to Boost Mental Health — No Fighting Required

The first young trees grown from seeds of the iconic Sycamore Gap tree — felled in an act of vandalism that shocked the country — will be planted this weekend, as part of a nationwide effort to turn destruction into hope.

Five saplings will be planted on Saturday in Coventry, Staffordshire, Berkshire, Cambridge, and Strabane. More will follow next week in Leeds, Sunderland, and Hexham, near where the original tree once stood beside Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.

The plantings are part of the National Trust’s Trees of Hope initiative, which aims to distribute 49 saplings — one for every foot of the original tree’s height — to communities across the UK. Nearly 500 groups applied to receive one.

The original Sycamore Gap tree became a national symbol of quiet beauty and endurance before it was cut down in September 2023. Two men from Cumbria, Daniel Michael Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were sentenced to four years and three months in prison this past July after being convicted of criminal damage.

Hilary McGrady, director general of the National Trust, said the saplings would serve both as homes for nature and as reminders of resilience. “There are always good things worth fighting for, even after something so senseless,” she said.

The first wave of trees will be planted during National Tree Week, which runs from 22 to 30 November.

One sapling will go to The Tree Sanctuary in Coventry, founded by three teenagers aiming to protect urban trees. Another will be planted at a site in Staffordshire commemorating the Minnie Pit mining disaster, and others will go to Greenham Common in Berkshire, the Lisnafin Community Centre in Strabane, and the community pollinator project Coton Loves Pollinators in Cambridge.

Martina Irwin, a co-founder of The Tree Sanctuary, said their sapling would be planted among other trees previously saved by the group. “It will serve as a beacon to inspire respect, understanding, and a sense of responsibility toward all trees,” she said.

Next week, saplings will be planted at the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds, Hexham General Hospital, and the Veterans in Crisis charity in Sunderland.

In early December, one sapling will be planted at Henshaw Church of England Primary School — the closest school to where the Sycamore Gap tree once stood.

Fifteen more saplings will be planted in 2026, each one going to one of the UK’s national parks. That includes Northumberland National Park, where the original tree grew and where its absence is still deeply felt.

Andrew Poad, general manager for the National Trust’s Hadrian’s Wall properties, said seeing the first saplings planted felt emotional. “It’s incredible to think that this weekend the first ‘offspring’ of this very famous tree will be planted,” he said. “It feels like just yesterday that those tentative first shoots appeared.”

One sapling — the very first grown — was gifted last summer to King Charles III. According to the National Trust, it will be planted for the nation at a later date.

Historic Sycamore Gap Tree Offsprings To Be Planted

A year ago, Laura Cooper was feeling isolated. On a quiet Monday night, the 43-year-old from Scunthorpe shared a simple message on social media: she wanted to start a friendship group for local women. She wasn’t expecting much.

Within hours, more than 100 responses poured in.

Today, her small idea has grown into the Scunthorpe Lovely Ladies, a thriving community of 926 members — and counting. What began as one woman’s search for connection has become a lifeline for women across the UK, and even as far as France and Guyana.

“It’s been amazing, it’s changed my life,” Cooper said. “It’s made me feel like I’m the old Laura again. I’m more confident and I can do anything.”

Her personal story has since gone global, drawing invitations to appear on national television and in magazines. She recently made an appearance on Good Morning Britain, complete with professional hair and makeup.

“I wouldn't say it's shocked me,” she said. “It is a reality check for a lot of ladies and myself — you can be lonely, you're needing friends. I've just created this from nothing. It's positive and it's needed, I believe.”

At a recent group meetup at the Priory pub in Scunthorpe, heavy rain pounded outside, but the mood inside was warm and welcoming. Every woman who arrived was greeted with a hug. New faces are joining all the time, Cooper said, as word of mouth spreads from mothers to daughters, friends to neighbours.

“The positivity — everyone brings everybody up,” she added. “We always meet with a hug, there's always a smile — it's a loving, warm group.”

The format is simple, but for many, it’s been transformative.

Lucy Robinson, 37, joined after losing two of the closest people in her life — her stepfather, whom she called “dad,” and her grandmother — within six months.

“I’d lost my biggest support system,” she said. “I’d literally just stay in bed.”

As she and her mum became more withdrawn, invitations from others stopped. The sense of isolation deepened.

Then she saw Laura’s post. An hour later, she was in.

“It makes you feel amazing,” Robinson said. “It makes you feel wanted and that you are part of something.”

The group doesn’t run as a charity, and there are no subscriptions. Each member pays their way for outings and activities. At meetings, raffle tickets help fund events like their upcoming Christmas party.

Recent adventures include a night out in Cleethorpes that ended with a scramble to find a bed-and-breakfast — some of the women had missed the last train home after enjoying themselves a bit too much.

For 62-year-old Monika Lear, who moved to Scunthorpe this year, the group has been an anchor. “It’s made a big difference,” she said. She’s now organizing a Christmas card-making evening for the group.

Rosie Cook, 44, said she has long struggled with her mental health but found real support among the Lovely Ladies.

“It’s unbelievable how a group of ladies that need that little bit of something in their lives, come here and feel like they're part of a family,” she said.

For Cooper, the momentum isn’t slowing down.

“It’ll keep going on and on as far as I can keep going,” she said. “I’m going to take this to the top, hopefully.”

Group member Marjory Dunning, 79, smiled. “Laura will not be satisfied until she's got every lonely and isolated lady in the district — she's always looking for them.”

From One Lonely Post to Nearly 1,000 Friends: How This Woman in Scunthorpe Built a Sisterhood

ABC News

Lecho Lopez watched his 5-year-old nephew sound out his first word from a graphic novel — “bad.” Ironic, he thought, considering that comics had done nothing but good for him. That moment, inside Lopez’s Sacramento comic shop, came as the city considers repealing a long-forgotten law that technically still makes scenes like that illegal.

Passed in 1949, the ordinance bans distributing comics to minors if they depict crimes like arson, murder, or rape — a holdover from a time when comics were blamed for everything from illiteracy to juvenile delinquency. Though the law hasn’t been enforced in decades, the City Council’s Law and Legislation Committee voted unanimously this week to move ahead with its repeal. The proposal now heads to the full council for a final vote, alongside a new resolution to designate the third week of September as "Sacramento Comic Book Week."

“It’s a silly law,” said Lopez, owner of JLA Comics. “A lot of good things come out of comic books.” For Lopez, that includes literacy, a sense of purpose, and a path away from gangs growing up. As someone with dyslexia, he said comics were the first thing he could actually absorb and enjoy reading.

“My mom bought me Ultimate Spider-Man #1 when I was 9,” Lopez recalled. But it was Kingdom Come, an illustrated epic about DC’s Justice League, that “changed my life.” Its hyper-realistic art, he said, made the stories feel more real, more relevant.

Supporters of the repeal argue that the law is not only outdated but could be weaponized in the current wave of book bans across the country. Comic author Eben Burgoon, who started a petition to overturn the ordinance, said the risk isn’t theoretical.

“These antiquated laws kind of set up this jeopardy where bad actors could work hard to make this medium imperiled,” Burgoon said at Tuesday’s hearing. He praised Sacramento’s “wonderful” comics scene, which includes events like CrockerCon at the local art museum.

The 1949 law reflects a larger historical trend of moral panic around new media. “Every time there’s a new medium or a new way of distributing a medium, there is an outrage and an attempt to suppress it,” said Jeff Trexler, interim director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

He points out that in the 1920s, New York created a commission to ban films considered “obscene” or “sacrilegious.” In the 1950s, comic books became the target, leading to self-censorship and local bans, like Sacramento’s.

The California Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Los Angeles County in 1959, ruling it was too broad and unconstitutional. Trexler believes Sacramento’s ban would likely fail the same legal test if challenged today.

“There is no good reason to keep this law on the books,” said Sam Helmick, president of the American Library Association. “It flies in the face of modern First Amendment norms.”

While some comics include violence — Lopez showed an AP reporter scenes from Batman/Deadpool and Epitaphs from the Abyss that feature car smashes and bow-and-arrow fights — experts argue that content alone doesn’t make a story harmful.

“Spider-Man is a very mature concept,” said Benjamin Morse, a media studies lecturer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “It’s a kid who’s lost his parents, his uncle dies to violence and he vows to basically be responsible.” Morse, who once worked at Marvel, said comics are often more about consequences than glorification.

Burgoon said fears about comics have always been misplaced. “It makes imaginative thinkers,” he told the committee. “It does not make widespread delinquency. It does not make societal harm.”

For Lopez, the repeal is overdue — not just because the law is unenforced, but because it doesn’t reflect what comics are or what they can do.

“At that age, I couldn’t understand most things. But I could understand comics,” he said. “They gave me something to believe in. Something to do. Something to be.”

Sacramento Moves to Repeal 1949 Comic Book Ban Targeting Teens and Kids

Science Daily

Every spring, the sounds of warblers and Wood Thrushes fill the forests and backyards of eastern North America. But few realize that these migratory birds spend most of their lives far to the south—in a group of five sprawling forests across Central America that are now vanishing at an alarming rate.

A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology reveals just how essential these forests are. Published in Biological Conservation, the research shows that the Five Great Forests of Central America, spanning from southern Mexico to northern Colombia, provide wintering and stopover habitat for between 10 and 50 percent of the global populations of 40 migratory bird species. And many of these birds are among the fastest declining species in North America.

“What happens in Central America directly affects the birds we love in the United States and Canada,” said Anna Lello-Smith, lead author and conservation scientist at WCS. “These forests aren’t just tropical wilderness — they’re at the heart of migration.”

Among the study’s key findings:

• Nearly one-quarter of all Wood Thrushes and Golden-winged Warblers winter in these forests.
• Over one-third of Kentucky Warblers do the same.
• More than 40 percent of the world’s Cerulean Warblers—down by more than 70 percent since 1970—pass through these forests during spring migration.

Two regions stand out as especially vital: the Selva Maya (spanning Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala) and the Moskitia (in Honduras and Nicaragua). Together with Indio Maíz-Tortuguero, La Amistad, and Darién, they form a corridor about the size of Virginia. This landscape supports not just migratory songbirds, but jaguars, tapirs, and scarlet macaws as well.

“Every fall, billions of birds pour south through the narrow land bridge of Central America,” said Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, director of Conservation Science at the Cornell Lab and a co-author of the study. “The density of warblers, flycatchers, and vireos crowded into these five forests is astounding.”

But those same forests are disappearing quickly. In the Moskitia alone, nearly one-third of the forest has been cleared in just 20 years, mostly for illegal cattle ranching. Across the Selva Maya, a quarter of the forest has been lost in only 15 years.

“If we lose the last great forests of Central America — and we are — we lose the birds that define our eastern forests in North America,” said Jeremy Radachowsky, WCS Regional Director for Mesoamerica.

Despite the bleak numbers, the researchers say the situation isn’t hopeless. Indigenous and local communities are already leading efforts to restore forests, prevent fires, and build sustainable economies based on products like allspice and cacao. But they face significant challenges, including land pressure, limited funding, and threats from illegal activities.

One of the study’s major contributions is showing how these tropical forests are directly connected to specific regions in North America. By mapping what they call “sister landscapes,” researchers identified areas like the Appalachians, the Great Lakes, New England, and the Mississippi Delta as breeding grounds for the same birds that winter in Central America.

“In many ways, the Five Great Forests are tropical counterparts to North America’s eastern forests,” Lello-Smith said. “They shelter the same birds when they’re out of sight—but not out of danger.”

Protecting even small portions of these forests, the authors say, can have outsized impacts. Each hectare of habitat saved helps sustain bird populations across the hemisphere—and supports rural communities along the way.

“Every hectare we protect in Central America has ripple effects for birds and people across the hemisphere,” said Lello-Smith. “If you love watching your birds come back each spring, we invite you to discover the tropical forests they call home—and help protect them.”

Study Finds Nearly Half of Some Migratory Birds Rely on Central America’s Disappearing Forests

ABC - Australia

For Mursal Sadat, co-captain of the newly rebranded Afghan Women United football team, stepping back onto the field wasn’t just a return to sport—it was a defiant act of hope.

Sadat and her teammates played their first official matches in four years last month at the FIFA Unites Women’s Series in Morocco. The tournament marked the team’s international comeback since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, imposing sweeping restrictions that banned women from playing sports, attending school, and accessing basic freedoms.

“It feels amazing to be that person, to make history,” Sadat told ABC Sport before the team’s game against Missouri in Norman.

The team is made up entirely of Afghan refugees living around the world, with many of the players, like Sadat, now based in Australia. Their participation was symbolic—but it also served as a rallying point for women back home in Afghanistan, many of whom are now banned from watching or participating in sport.

“We’ve received a lot of good feedback from women back home,” Sadat said. “Whenever there is someone saying that these girls belong to the kitchen… all those women are coming and defending us. They’re writing, ‘We know it is just the beginning. We believe in you. We know you guys are our hope.’”

Afghan Women United played three matches in the round-robin series, losing to Chad (6–1) and Tunisia (4–0), before closing the tournament with a commanding 7–0 win over Libya. For Sadat, the results weren’t the point.

“Because when all is lost, hope is still there,” she said. “And hope is the strongest weapon that we’re carrying with us.”

From Kabul to Melbourne

Sadat was one of many Afghan women footballers who fled Kabul during the Taliban’s return in August 2021. She was granted an emergency humanitarian visa by the Australian government and resettled in Melbourne, where she now lives. But the trauma of exile runs deep.

“Whenever I would go to buy some groceries, I’d be like, ‘Why am I buying this juice? I don’t need it to survive, but people in my country, they’re in poverty. They need this,’” she said.

She described dealing with severe depression and survivor’s guilt during her first years in Australia, saying it was football that helped her find a way forward.

“At that point, to be honest, football was the only thing that was keeping me alive and safe,” she said. “The only time that I would feel happy was when we would go out to the parks to play soccer… it would just give me a feeling like I’m home.”

Through a partnership with Melbourne Victory, Afghan refugee players have been participating in local leagues since 2022. But building a fully functional team ready for international competition has been far from simple.

Obstacles Off the Pitch

Even the team’s appearance in Morocco nearly didn’t happen. Originally scheduled to play in Dubai, the tournament had to be moved just days before kick-off when players couldn’t secure visas for the UAE. Moroccan authorities stepped in to host the matches on short notice.

“It was something unexpected… but everyone tried their best to stay positive and move the tournament to a new location,” Sadat said. “Because the important thing was that this tournament needed to take place. That was the actual championship for us.”

While FIFA framed the tournament as a step forward under its “Strategy for Action for Afghan Women’s Football,” the players still face major hurdles. Afghan Women United is not officially recognized by FIFA and cannot participate in sanctioned tournaments, including qualifiers for the Women’s Asian Cup and the 2027 World Cup.

That authority remains with the Taliban-controlled Afghan Football Federation, which has barred Afghan women from representing the country in international football.

FIFA declined to answer questions from ABC Sport about any alternative pathways for Afghan women’s participation or whether outreach inside Afghanistan is ongoing, citing the “sensitive nature” of the situation.

Still Building

Despite the lack of official recognition, the team is determined to push forward. “Unfortunately, we are not a national team yet,” Sadat told fans during an Instagram Q&A after returning to Melbourne. “But we are building towards that goal, and once it’s recognised… there will be a chance for every Afghan around the world.”

The road ahead remains uncertain. The team is still navigating bureaucracy, funding issues, and the emotional weight of displacement. But for Sadat and her teammates, simply being seen is a victory.

“We know you guys are our hope,” one supporter back home told her. That message, Sadat said, is what keeps them going.

“Because when everything else is taken from you, hope is the one thing they can’t erase.”

Download the world's only news app designed to spread joy and happiness.

What's Good Now!