Afghan female Olympian urges England cricketers to boycott Champions Trophy game - Friba Rezayee says female athletes are treated as if they do not exist in Afghanistan.

A group of British lawmakers urged England to boycott their Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan next month, saying the country's cricket board (ECB) needed to take a stand against the Taliban's crackdown on women.

A set of politicians in the United Kingdom urged the England Cricket Board to abandon their match against Afghanistan in the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 citing restrictions over women by the Taliban. In a letter signed by more than 160 lawmakers, the officials wanted the England players to speak out against the treatment of women in Afghanistan.

Seven MPs and peers from Northern Ireland back boycott due to the Taliban's oppression of women.

Richard Gould, the ECB's chief executive, has rejected calls from a group of British politicians for England to boycott their upcoming Champions Trophy clash with Afghanistan in February, saying that the Taliban regime's clampdown on women's rights is a matter that requires a "co-ordinated,

England's men's players have the "power" to make their own stand and refuse to play Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy, says Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi.

The UK government says the International Cricket Council should "deliver on their own rules" relating to women's participation as the England men's team resist calls to boycott their upcoming match against Afghanistan.