Three young girls who fled Afghanistan after the recent Taliban takeover are among the thousands of evacuees taking shelter in Red Cross tents at a refugee camp in Italy. They used to play in a football team in Herat but when the regime swept to power, the girls decided to escape, fearing for their lives.

Leaving their families behind, the footballers fled their country with the help of their coach. Now they just want to go to school, start a new life and keep kicking a ball. “Especially for us, sportswomen and girls, and even for women in general it is a very bad situation and we had to leave our country,” Sara, one of the young Afghans, told Euronews.