August 27 – Iran may be on the verge of allowing women into football stadia after a long campaign of pressure from FFIA, the AFC and various fan groups. Local news agency IRNA has reported that women will be allowed to attend Team Melli’s World Cup qualifier against Cambodia in October.
In Iran women have been banned from watching men’s football matches live since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “Women can go to Tehran’s Azadi stadium to watch the match between Iran’s national team and Cambodia in October for the Qatar World Cup qualifier,” IRNA quoted deputy Sports Minister Jamshid Taghizadeh as saying.
In June FIFA wrote to the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) to seek assurances that women would be allowed to attend 2022 World Cup qualifiers. The FFIRI however missed a July 15 deadline to allow women to purchase match tickets, but Taghizadeh’s words now seem to suggest that women will be able to enter the national stadium in the capital and watch the match against Cambodia.
Earlier this month the AFC said it was working with FIFA to help find an “amicable solution”.
Women fans across Iran have long campaigned to get the ban lifted and they hit the global headlines at the 2018 World Cup when Iranian women attended Iran’s matches in Russia.
Recently, the ban has been relaxed with 100 Iranian women allowed to watch the men’s national team friendly against Bolivia last October. In November five hundred women attending the AFC Champions League final match in Tehran between Persepolis and Japan’s Kashima Antlers.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1730785059labto1730785059ofdlr1730785059owedi1730785059sni@o1730785059fni1730785059
