Asian Champions on the Road to the Olympics; Afghan Futsal Youths Know Their Opponents

After winning the historic Asian Championship, Afghanistan’s U-17 Futsal National Team is now preparing for one of the most important global competitions. Behrouz Jafari’s students were grouped in Group A with hosts Senegal, Argentina and Panama in the draw for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.

The draw for the competition was held at the headquarters of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) in Zurich, Switzerland, where the qualified teams learned their opponents for the world’s largest youth futsal tournament.

The competition is scheduled to be held from November 1 to 12, 2026 in Dakar, the capital of Senegal; the competition will mark the second time that futsal has participated in the Youth Olympic Games, with 16 teams in both the boys and girls divisions.

The Afghan U-17 national team has qualified for these competitions after a brilliant performance in the 2025 Asian Championship last year, defeating Iran in the final and lifting the championship trophy; an honor that has revived hopes for this talented generation to shine again.

Kabul Times News | 2026-05-22
Report; Shahbanu Noori