International rescue effort brings 130 young footballers and their families to London after Taliban takeover
Shortly before 4am on Thursday morning, a private chartered plane touched down on a freezing London runway. On board were 130 exhausted, nervous but extremely relieved female footballers and their families, whose dramatic journey to the UK from Afghanistan started more than four months ago, before Kabul fell to the Taliban and triggered an exodus.
After months of hiding, political negotiations, frantic calls and WhatsApp messages, the help of a reality TV star – and the heroic efforts of one particular woman, Khalida Popal – the Afghan girls’ youth development football team finally touched down on British soil with the promise of a new future with Leeds United.
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