A third of Afghan women’s footballers evacuated to the UK after claiming they were branded “un-Islamic” by the Taliban “never played the sport”.

A number of players from the Afghan women’s football team were evacuated to the UK after the Taliban took control of the country “they didn’t even play the sport,” an inquest has found.

Around 35 members of the women’s national team and their families – 130 people in total – were evacuated from Pakistan to the UK in November 2021.

The women, who were aged between 13 and 19 at the time, were given visas by the British Home Office because they were deemed by the Taliban to pose a greater risk of playing a sport the insurgent group considered un-Islamic.

However, a study found that about a third of the 35 women granted asylum had never played for the team.

In discussions with former players, coaches and officials of the Afghan women’s team, the investigation identified 13 people who were allegedly not part of the team.

Players of the Afghanistan national football team participate in a training session in Odivelas, a suburb of Lisbon, in September 2021.

During the investigation, BBC Newsnight said it was given access to the full list of female footballers who were transported to the UK and granted asylum.

They validated the list and said the names given to the Home Office were genuine. However, it was wrong to identify them as national team footballers or local clubs.

Najibullah Nowroozi, coach of Herat youth team – where most of the players claimed to be registered – said some of the players on the list had never played football.

He told Newsnight’s enquiry: “I saw people on the list who didn’t even wear a football shirt in Herat.”

The false allegations made by some women have angered many back home in Afghanistan.

Some of the women who played for the national team were unable to come to Britain and now live in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

An anonymous player still in the country told Newsnight: “The Taliban have banned sports for women and girls.

“We are sitting in Afghanistan without a future. I just feel very neglected and very sad because we are the real players and not some of the evicted ones.

Sabriah Nawrouzi, the former captain of the Herat youth team, told the inquest that she first met some of the women who claimed to be part of the team at a hotel while on a flight to the UK has been waiting.

Afghan football players take part in a friendly match against Qatar’s national women’s team at the Khalifa International Stadium in November 2021

Khalida Popal, former captain of the Afghanistan national football team, speaks at the annual FIFA conference on Equality and Inclusion in March 2017

A charity worker who helped arrange the flight to the UK claimed the Home Office had not verified the women’s identities. She said they were relying on names given to them by a player, Khalida Popal.

Charity worker Siu Anne Gill, from the Rokit Foundation, told Newsnight that Ms Popal had personally given more and more names and when asked if some of the women were definitely footballers, she confirmed that they were.

Ms Popal denied any allegation that she knowingly included women who were not footballers. She told Newsnight in a statement: “I categorically deny the allegations made against me. I have repeatedly provided extensive evidence and explained why any suggestion that I played a formal role in the verification and/or knowingly misled anyone about the identity of the evacuees is false.”

A Home Office spokesman told Newsnight: “We worked with a number of organizations who identified the group and referred them to us, carrying out security checks as part of the process.

“Should there be any indication that the information provided was incorrect, the Home Office will investigate.”

The Mail On Sunday carried out its own investigation in December 2021 which found that members of the national team had been left behind to make way for friends of older players.

The investigation found that much of the criticism was directed at Ms Popal.

Arezo Rahimi, head of women’s football at the Afghanistan Football Association, said at the time: “The majority of people on Ms Popal’s list are not players and their families at all. Most of the players in the development team are still stuck in Afghanistan – living in fear with no hope of getting out.”

Ms Popal also denied any wrongdoing in December 2021 and said her accusers were jealous because they could not evacuate their own families.