Football has returned to Afghanistan. Ground staff cleaned the dusty pitch and sniffer dogs checked for land mines in Kabul Stadium Wednesday to prepare the venue for Friday's football friendly between international troops and a team of top Afghan players called Kabul United.

The match-called the Game of Unity-will be played in a stadium where some of the worst atrocities of the former Taliban regime took place, including public executions and lashings.

The 20 player international squad is made up players from the International Security Assistance Force. It includes soldiers from Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. Kabul United has been created from the best players from teams across the capital.

The Asian Football Confederation hopes the match will help ease Afghan football back into the mainstream. More than 30,000 tickets have been sold for the match.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters.

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