6,200 kilometers separate Kabul from Madrid. 6,200 kilometers between oppression and a new life, between the Taliban regime and its attack on women's rights, and a new life in Spain, where Arezo Rahimi is trying to rebuild her life and live out her passion: football.

Born in the Afghan capital, Rahimi had to live through a difficult childhood, where severe limitations were placed on the lives of women and young girls

"When we're kids we want to do simple things: play, walk around, learn and live happily with our family," Rahimi told InfoMigrants. "But from a young age, I quickly realized that there were these barriers put up around us Afghan girls and women. ... This was my daily reality during all my years back home."

She remembers that everything was challenging, from schooling to social life to sports. Rahimi realized she had to fight sexist attitudes and patriarchic structures and rules all the time.

Football became a way for her to escape from all the oppression: "I saw men play in the same neighborhood, kicking the ball, running and having a good time. I wanted to do the same. I know it was not seen as appropriate for a girl, but I told myself 'try it out!,' and so I started out at 11," she recalls.

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Facing adversity with determination

Soon, other girls joined Rahimi's dream: "It was like hope rising, it gave me a lot of joy to see other girls wanting to play. ... We started in places where we wouldn't be seen: in inner courtyards of houses in fear of being followed or punished. This was our moment, our window to freedom," she remembers.

Rahimi improved year after year, persisting despite the mounting pressure from conservative minds in her neighborhood. "I trained whenever I could. I wanted to be the best player possible. When I start something, I don't stop; I always want more.

"My passion for the sport helped me get ahead in life in spite of all the challenges."

At 19, she joined the Afghan national football team, which despite the lack of infrastructure and opportunities filled her with a sense of pride. The team had few resources available, and competing against other countries was hard: few national teams wanted to come to Kabul to compete -- a city which was at a state of war.

Rahimi decided to get even more involved and joined the Afghanistan football federation. She is, to this day, the only woman to have joined the executive committee. Soon she became president of the women's league.

“For years, we were stalled. They didn't want to help us. But we tried hard to give young girls who wanted to play (football) a real chance. We organized trainings and competitions to help girls daily, with no budget.

"That commitment, that fight was something I had to do for us then, but also for future generations," she told InfoMigrants.

"The next step would have been to send a selection of girls abroad to compete internationally. But then the return of the Taliban put a stop to everything."

Read more: Afghan girls' football team follow their dreams in Portugal

Finding refuge in Spain

On August 15, 2021, Rahimi was attending a medical appointment when she noticed massive crowd movements towards Kabul airport. She realized that nothing would be the same again after that day.

With her husband and parents, Rahimi later tried twice to also reach the airport and to get on a plane to leave the country: "We were really stressed. We were afraid we could not leave and that the Taliban would come after us. We know we got lucky to have been able to board a Spanish army flight on August 23rd," she remembers.

The family headed to Dubai and then to Madrid, where the Spanish foreign affairs minister welcomed her family alongside thousands of other Afghans.

"It came as a great relief, but it was also an immensely sad moment because we had left everything behind: our lives, our house, and my football projects with Afghan women. It was like we had erased our past."

Rahimi has slowly been adapting to her new life. She is trying her best to move forward and continue to live out her passion for football. Sameem, her husband, jokes that she's "obsessed" with the game:

"I often tell her football is her life's greatest love. That makes her laugh," he told InfoMigrants.

"She's trying her hardest to set up projects related to women's football, and she already knows how to speak Spanish. She's a great fighter, and an inspiration for Afghan women everywhere," he added with pride.

Gaining back confidence

Despite all the difficulties in her life as a refugee, football remains the main driving force in Rahimi's life: "I fight every day to move forward on my projects and get diplomas to rise up the ranks in Spanish football," she told InfoMigrants.

She continues to train hard, and wants to create a refugee women team that can compete in the country's regional division.

Ramon Sanchez, coordinator at the Spanish committee helping refugee, told InfoMigrants that advocacy projects for refugees involving sports are "very important for those women who lost everything, and who are often questioning themselves and lacking confidence."

"Sports serve a catalyst of unity but also of integration into a group. This can help many women and families break the isolation which one can feel confronted with during the first years of being a refugee in a new country," he added.

Connecting with many women from the Afghan diaspora in Spain but also across Europe, Rahimi is determined to deepen her ties with her favorite sport -- and keep winning.

Read more: Refugees celebrate football in new UEFA event designed to promote understanding