Iran Women Attend The First League Match After A Long Wait Of 40 Years

Following a restriction on women entering sporting venues, hundreds of Iranian women attended a professional domestic football match in Tehran for the first time after more than 40 years.

According to the nation's semi-official state news outlet Fars, 500 women were permitted entry into Tehran's Azadi stadium to attend a league game between Esteghlal FC, a team based in Tehran, and visiting Sanat Mes Kerman FC, a team from the city of Kerman.

Iran Women First League

The ban on women entering sporting stadiums in Iran was implemented shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 but is not a written law. Women have only sometimes been able to attend national games, but Thursday marked the first time in more than 40 years that Iranian women soccer fans were permitted to witness a domestic match.

As Iran qualified for the World Cup in Qatar in November, Iranian women were finally able to witness a historical event. A World Cup qualifier between Iran and Cambodia in 2019 was made possible by pressure from human rights organisations and FIFA, the sport's global governing body, three years earlier. Thousands of women were allowed to attend.

In particular, following the death of Sahar Khodayari, a female fan, Khodayari, who burned herself on fire after being denied access to a football stadium in Tehran, FIFA had been under increasing pressure to persuade Iran to lift its ban on women visiting sporting venues.

Because of the team she backed, Khodayari earned the nickname "Blue Girl" and eventually became a representative of the Iranian women's rights movement.

The women who attended the match were seated apart from the men during the match between Estaqlal, the home team, and Mes-e Kerman, the opponents. Many others showed their support for Khodayari by waving flags, donning team colours, and chanting "Blue Girl."

Social media users honoured Khodayari's memory by tweeting with the Persian hashtag #Blue Girl. The "Blue Girl" died so that "many blue girls can enter the stadium," according to one who posted a photo of Esteqlal supporters.

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