100 Afghanis World Soccer Italy to USA

Issued under the Soviet-backed Najibullah government during the final stages of the Afghan Civil War, this piece belongs to a wave of commemorative coinage Afghanistan produced through the late 1980s almost entirely for the international collector market rather than domestic circulation. The country's economy was in collapse, and hard currency from foreign coin sales carried practical value that the coins themselves never would inside Afghanistan.

The 1994 World Cup was awarded to the United States in July 1988 — the first time the tournament had been granted to a nation without a top-tier professional football league, a controversial FIFA decision that generated significant international debate.