Iran: Women allowed to attend football match after 43 years – Video – Photo

August 26, 2022

Robert

Videos online show women crying with joy and cheering wildly for their favorite team.

Watching a football match of the Iranian football league allowed women in Tehran for the first time in 43 years. Since Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolution in 1979, Iranian authorities have banned women from entering stadiums or stadiums.

Around 500 female fans headed to Azadi Stadium in western Tehran on Thursday to watch Esteghlal vs Mes Kerman for the Persian Gulf Championship.
Videos online show women crying with joy and cheering wildly for their favorite team.

Yamga’s scissors kick goal from women’s stand view 👇🏾 https://t.co/poy5w5hYcM

— Esteghlal (@EsteghlalFC_En) August 25, 2022

“We are happy for your presence at the Azadi stadium (…) it is your home, it always has been”, the team wrote Esteghlal in her tweet. Most of the women wore blue jerseys and caps to support the home team, Esteghlal – one of the oldest football clubs in the country. Esteghlal won 1-0.

Social media hailed the “historic moment” with one user writing that although Esteghlal won, the real winners were the women who finally made it onto the field.

📸 Female supporters inside Azadi Stadium for @FCEsteghlalIran vs Mes Kerman in the Persian Gulf Pro League

[@MKaramali | @Ft360_ir] pic.twitter.com/DTxuvfNnVG

— Gol Bezan (@GolBezan) August 25, 2022

The issue of women watching matches had brought the country’s football federation and the FIFA on a collision course, with football’s world governing body calling for the ban to be lifted.

Last October, Iran’s football federation asked parliament to pass a law overturning the ban.

In January 2,000 women were allowed to watch Iran play Iraq, where the home team qualified for the 2022 World Cup again at the Azadi Stadium.

Before that, women were allowed to enter the stadium to watch the Asian Champions League final in 2019 between Iran’s Persepolis and Japan’s Kashima Antlers.
It was the first time in 40 years that women were able to watch football players in action.