Afghanistan Sports – The Most Popular Sports in Afghanistan
Wondering what sports the Afghans like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in Afghanistan in this post. 🏏
The Most Popular Afghan Sports
Find below Afghanistan national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Cricket |
| 2 | Football |
| 3 | Buzkashi |
| 4 | Basketball |
| 5 | Martial Arts |
| 6 | Taekwondo |
| 7 | Boxing |
So there you have them, the sports Afghanistan is famous for! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Afghanistan.
What is the National Sport of Afghanistan?
The national sport of Afghanistan is cricket. There are in fact two very popular sports in Afghanistan, cricket and football.
Cricket is still the national sport though because it has helped bring unity to the population. Also, everyone in the country watches it on television, and there is a national league.
Learn More About Afghanistan Popular Sports
Afghanistan is a mountainous country located between Central and South Asia. Its capital city is Kabul, which counts over 4.4 million inhabitants.
An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its most popular sports. In light of that, I have listed all of Afghanistan’s popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
Cricket
As I already told you, cricket is the most popular and national sport in Afghanistan. On a national scale, there are often matches between provinces, especially in the South and the West of the country. These matches are broadcast on television.
Cricket was first introduced to the country by Pakistanis, and the national cricket team was then formed in 2001, right after the fall of the Taliban.
The level of play in the country quickly rose after that, and the Afghan national team could rapidly compete against other major international cricket teams.
Famous Afghan cricket players: Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Asghar Stanizkai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hazratullah Zazai
Football
Football is the second most important sport in Afghanistan.
The Afghan national football team was founded back in 1922, before joining FIFA in 1948. The influence and the control of the Taliban in the country made it complicated for the football team to join international events for many years, but it got better and better after 2003.
There is even a big national stadium, the Ghazi stadium, which is used not only for national events but also for neighboring countries.
Finally, the Afghanistan Football Federation was awarded the 2013 FIFA Fair Play Award.
Famous Afghan Football players: Nadia Nadim, Khalida Popal, Zohib Islam Amiri, Faysal Shayesteh, Zubayr Amiri, Sharif Mukhammad, Amiruddin Sharifi
Buzkashi
Opposite to cricket and football, buzkashi is the national traditional sport. It is more of a passion sport than a truly competitive one, that the country could share with others on an international scale.
It first began somewhere between the 10th and the 15th centuries, when the nomadic Asian tribes were migrating.
Basically, the aim of buzkashi is to place a goat or a calf carcass in a goal… while riding a horse. There are 10 riders on each team, and the ground has a square layout.
Some other countries like Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have their own version of this sport.
Famous Afghan Buzkashi players: Khamid Boronov (82-year-old venerated veteran)
Basketball
Basketball is the fourth most popular Afghanistan sport.
It dates back to 1936 when it was first played. The Afghanistan national basketball team was then created in 1966, by the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee, following challenges from India and Pakistan, funnily enough. This means that if Afghanistan wasn’t taunted by its neighbors India and Pakistan, maybe basketball would have never existed in the country!
The first coach of basketball in Afghanistan was… an American Peace Corps. Tom Gouttierre was also the coach at Habibia high school.
Both men and women play basketball in the country, and Afghanistan is the 2010 South Asian Games champion.
Martial Arts
Martial arts are the fifth most popular sport in Afghanistan. This trend is relatively recent, but Afghans have started to become more and more interested in mixed martial arts.
Over time, many gyms have been built in the country, and mixed martial arts are being promoted and are counting more fighters.
The most famous Afghan martial arts sportsman is probably Siyar Bahadurzada, who used to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Though officially Dutch, he was very famous for waving the Afghan flag both before and after every fight.
Famous Afghan Martial Arts players: Mohammad Nasrat Haqparast, Siyar Bahadurzada
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is the sixth most popular Afghan sport.
The main reason why it is so popular is probably its first and foremost representative, Rohullah Nikpai. Thanks to him, the sport has dramatically gained in popularity, especially since 2008, when he won one of the only two Olympic medals Afghanistan was awarded. Guess who the other one was? Yes, still him, in 2012, when he won another bronze medal!
With his influence, the sport is guaranteed a bright future in the country.
Famous Afghan Taekwondo players: Rohullah Nikpai
Boxing
Boxing is the seventh and last most popular sport in Afghanistan.
Again, boxing is a quite recent sport in the country of Afghanistan. It looks like Afghans just got angrier and angrier, and want to fight others more, by doing fighting sports like martial arts, taekwondo, and boxing!
The most famous boxing figure in Afghanistan is Hamid Rahimi, which, similarly to Rohullah Nikpai, is the main reason why boxing is so popular these days. He won the first-ever boxing match in the country, in 2012.
Famous Afghan Boxing players: Hamid Rahimi
So there you have them, these were all the most popular sports in Afghanistan. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today.
In case you want to learn more about sports in other countries, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:
More Sport Facts!
Loved these Afghanistan sports facts? Want to see what sports are the most popular in other countries?
Then check out these posts:
Or click here to see ALL the facts up on the blog! Spoiler alert: there’s A LOT of them.
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