Afghanistan national team manager Abdullah Al-Mutairi refused to let his players leave the dressing room before a 2026 World Cup qualifier.
Enraged by complaints about his coaching, Al-Mutairi threatened to forfeit Afghanistan’s qualifying second leg against Mongolia in October – something that would have eliminated his own team and sent Mongolia through to the next round.
The players finally emerged from the dressing from when Al-Mutairi was sacked just hours before kick-off (Afghanistan beat Mongolia to progress), but this episode only hinted at the chaos afflicting football in the country.
Between dressing room lock-ins, boycotts of matches and a match-fixing scandal that has rocked the national federation, not to mention the perilous impact of the Taliban’s takeover of the country, Afghan football is falling apart.
The outlook was so much brighter not so long ago.
Graham Ruthven 
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