Iranian women will be able to watch men’s football again in some local stadiums, after being banned for a long time, with rare exceptions, the president of the Iranian Football Federation announced on Sunday.
“One of the main novelties of this season is that women will be able to enter the stadiums,” revealed Mehdi Taj, during the draw ceremony for the competition, which begins in August and will have a total of 16 teams.
In August 2022, women were exceptionally allowed to watch the match between Esteghlal, who at the time was coached by the Portuguese Ricardo Sá Pinto, and Mes Kerman, as well as in March 2023, when the Iranian team faced Russia, in a private party. challenge, played at the Azadi Stadium, in Tehran.
However, for more than 40 years women were prohibited from attending matches in stadiums, but under pressure from FIFA, in 2019 a female audience was allowed at international team matches, which happened for the first time. since Islamic times. Revolution of 2019. 1979.
The president of the organization confirmed that some stadiums in the cities of Isfahan, Kerman and Ahvaz are “ready” to receive spectators during matches. However, he did not name any stadiums in the capital Tehran.
Iran faces mounting pressure to allow women to participate in soccer matches after the 2019 death of Sahar Khodayari, who set herself on fire for fear of arrest for trying to attend a match disguised as a man.
Source: TSF
