My Beautiful Sisters: A Story of Courage, Hope and the Afghan Women’s Football Team

“Khalida is a remarkable woman. She’s living in a society where women’s rights are virtually non-existent. She’s obviously very intelligent and has quite a progressive family. That seems to give her the bravery to be quite bolshy. She says in the book that she’s stubborn. She is very stubborn and when she gets it in her head that women should be playing football, she doesn’t give it up—even though everyone tells her it’s a terrible idea. Her family suffers, because she’s bringing them shame in the view of the society and the authorities around her, but she perseveres. If you want to read a book about battling against the odds, this is the book for you. Critics would say, ‘Why create a football team? How does that help Afghanistan women?’ For those who live outside that community and find it hard to compute just how appalling conditions are for women in Afghanistan, it allows us a point of comparison—through the vehicle of the football team that she helps to create.” Read more...

The Best Sports Books of 2024: The William Hill Award

Alyson Rudd, Journalist