Afghan football chiefs suspended over sex abuse on Women’s Team

Afghanistan has suspended five officials including the president of the country’s football federation over allegations of sexual and physical abuse against the national women’s team, officials said yesterday.

The decision comes days after President Ashraf Ghani ordered the attorney general to conduct a “thorough investigation” into what he called “shocking” claims of abuse by male officials against members of the women’s team allegations that were first reported in Britain’s Guardian newspaper. “The attorney general’s office has suspended the president of the football federation, his deputy, the federation’s secretary general, the head of goalkeepers and the head of provincial coordinators,” Jamshid Rasuli, spokesman for the attorney general, told AFP.

“To conduct the investigations thoroughly, collect evidence and to ensure justice, the team of prosecutors decided to suspend these people,” he said, adding that all the suspended officials were male.