Women in Iran have been mainly banned from participating in men’s sports and other sporting events since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, but over the years, they have been allowed to participate on a few occasions.
Women in Iran have been mainly banned from participating in men’s sports and other sporting events since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, but over the years, they have been allowed to participate on a few occasions.
In a rare move, authorities in Iran allowed women to participate in a football game at the Iranian capital’s Tehran Azadi Stadium on Thursday evening, local media reported.
Videos posted on social media showed the women inside the stadium as a national league game between Iran’s second most popular team Esteghlal FC and Mes-e Kerman.
Footage showed Esteghlal’s blue team flags waving and cheering from their seats in a special area designated for women at the 100,000-seat stadium for women.
According to the semi-official ISNA news agency, 500 tickets were dedicated exclusively to women, although it was not immediately clear how many participated.
a news website, asrriranosaid that four hours before the match, tickets assigned to women sold on the black market for about $70, compared to less than their official price of $2.
Participating in 2022 World Cup Qualifiers
Women in Iran have been banned from participating in mainly men’s sports and other sporting events since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
FIFA has long sought an assurance from Iran that women will be allowed to participate in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
In 2019 and for the first time in decades, hundreds of Iranian women were allowed to watch Persepolis play Japan’s Kashima Antlers in Tehran for the final of the Asian Champions League.
In January, more than 2,000 female spectators at Azadi Stadium watched the Iran national football team defeat Iraq in Group A of Asian teams, qualifying for the third consecutive World Cup. It was the second major Iranian women’s football competition to be seen at the stadium.
banned again
However, in March, Iranian authorities barred women from participating in the country’s final 2022 World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Lebanon in the holy city of Mashhad. At the time, Iranian media said that 12,500 tickets had been sold online, of which 2,000 were reserved for women.
But Ahmed Almolhoda, an influential Friday prayer leader in Mashhad, appointed by the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he was against the presence of women in men’s sporting events, calling it “obscenity”.