Women In Iran Have Been Allowed To Attend A Domestic Soccer Match For The First Time In Over 40 Years
Women in Iran were officially allowed to attend a domestic soccer match for the first time in more than 40 years, according to state media.
![Women In Iran Have Been Allowed To Attend A Domestic Soccer Match For The First Time In Over 40 Years](/content/images/size/w1200/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic.jpg)
Women in Iran were officially allowed to attend a domestic soccer match for the first time in more than 40 years, according to state media.
About 500 women attended the game at Azadi Stadium in Tehran on the evening of Thursday Aug. 25.
![iran women soccer match first time domestic](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic-1.jpg)
Women in Iran rarely attend sporting events because they are often refused entry due to an unwritten rule that banned them from stadiums introduced shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
![iran women soccer match first time domestic](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic1.jpg)
Iranian women were allowed inside a football stadium for the first time in 2018, joining men in a stadium in Tehran for a live screening of the World Cup game between Iran and Spain.
![iran women soccer match first time domestic](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic2.jpg)
In 2019, they were allowed to buy tickets and attend a match for the first time, joining men for the country’s 2022 World Cup qualifier match.
![iran women soccer match first time domestic](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic3.jpg)
That change had come a month after a woman died from setting herself on fire to protest the ban.
![iran women soccer match first time domestic](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic4.jpg)
The 29-year-old woman, Sahar Khodayari, also known as Blue Girl, was facing a possible jail sentence for sneaking into a soccer match earlier in the year.
![iran women soccer match first time domestic](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic5.jpg)
Following an international outcry, FIFA, soccer’s governing body, ordered Iran to allow women into stadiums without restrictions and in numbers determined by demand for tickets.
![iran women soccer match first time domestic](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic6.jpg)
Seated separately from the men, the women waved flags and chanted “Blue Girl” in tribute to Khodayari, CNN reported.
![iran women soccer match first time domestic](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic7.jpg)
![iran women soccer match first time domestic](https://almostmag.co/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/iran-women-soccer-match-first-time-domestic8.jpg)
You Might Also Be Interested In
These Indigenous Women In Peru Are Training For A Local Soccer Tournament And They Look So Cool