Claims of sexual abuse against Afghan women’s football team by male officials

There is an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against the Afghanistan women's football team.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called for the probe today following claims that players had been sexually and physically abused by male officials. The president of the country's football federation, Keramuudin Karim, was also included in the list of accusations. The Guardian reported last week that one of the team's sponsors, Hummel, were presented with "... strong allegations of severe mental, physical, sexual and equal-rights abuse of the female players by male AFF officials." The brand then decided to pull their sponsorship. Afghan FA officials have denied the claims. Today, president Ghani called the allegations "shocking." Dawn reports that following a meeting with the Afghan attorney general, he said: “It is shocking to all Afghans. Any kind of misconduct against athletes, male and female, is not acceptable. “I ask the attorney general to conduct a thorough investigation compliant with our legal codes into the issue." He later added: “Even if mere allegations cause our people to stop sending their sons and daughters to sports, we need to act immediately and comprehensively. I do not tolerate sexual abuse. “No power on Earth can abuse our children. We have to have a framework in place to mitigate such incidents in our sports federations." Fifa is also investigating the allegations.