HOUSTON – Imagine living in a country where you can play a sport freely—feeling the joy of kicking the ball or the wind as you pass it to your teammate—only to be taken away.
That was the reality for many women playing sports in Afghanistan when the U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, which resulted in female athletes being targeted by the Taliban for simply playing a sport.
While some women did not survive, many female athletes escaped with help from international human rights organizations and sports communities and resettled around the world. After going through a rigorous refugee process, ten of the Afghan women resided in Houston in 2023, but could not play soccer in leagues for two years.
Before the team was founded in May 2025, Sarah Labowitz, volunteer manager of Houston Shine FC, met the young Afghan women at a Dash game. From that serendipitous meeting and through her own experience playing sports as a young girl in school and college, it was unfathomable to Labowitz that the women who escaped a dangerous situation couldn’t play soccer in America. Through her network of friends, community leaders and sports connections, they gathered soccer supplies like shoes and water bottles, found a field for practice and ultimately created an official team.
According to Labowitz, “The core of the team is all women who came out of Afghanistan, usually between 2021 and 2023. About half of those women had played in the Afghan Football Federation in their women’s program, which was this kind of incredible effort of about a decade where Afghanistan allowed and then expanded their women’s football program.”
The field isn’t the only place where players are making goals. Through community support and scholarships, the female players are striking on their own by learning English, taking classes at community college and working to support themselves and family members living in Afghanistan.
In just over a year, the team has grown with players from different countries like Mexico, France and Venezuela—forming an international league of their own. For all the early risers, the team is preparing for their first anniversary with a game starting at 8:30 a.m. on August 2 at Quillian Center on Westpark Dr.
Houston Shine FS is part of the Houston Women’s Soccer Association, which is also celebrating a milestone—their 50th anniversary.
They practice weekly on Friday nights at Blue Ridge Park near Sam Houston Tollway. If you like to learn more about the team and help support its mission, visit houstonshinefc.org.
Watch the feature video about Houston Shine FC in the video above.