Women Attend Football Match Outside Tehran After FIFA Pressure

Prompted by stern warnings from FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Iran has reluctantly permitted women to attend a football match outside Tehran.

On Wednesday, women were part of a crowd of local spectators cheering on their teams at a football (soccer) match at Sirjan Stadium in Kerman Province between the city's team and Khuzestan's Foulad FC. It was the first time in 44 years that women have been allowed to attend a football match outside of the capital city.

Just days prior, FIFA and the AFC had expressed serious reservations about Iran's persistent exclusion of women from attending football matches. Permitting women to enter the stadium in Sirjan could have been in response to the mounting international pressure, Shargh daily in Tehran reported.

Although the presence of women at the Sirjan Stadium was extensively promoted through local media, the Iranian press opted to restrict coverage, releasing only a handful of photographs to the public. Notably, several attending women were observed without the mandatory hijab.

It is still not clear if the development in Sirjan is a lasting policy change by the Islamic Republic. Women’s presence in stadiums outside of Tehran has become a controversial issue in recent years. FIFA have been calling for women's entry into stadiums for years, but Iran's Football Federation and other relevant entities had persistently delayed its full implementation.

The Iranian regime's handling of women's participation in football matches has remained under global scrutiny. While there were some limited concessions granted last year, allowing women a controlled entry, the government's reaction to nationwide protests eventually resulted in the revocation of this privilege, leading to months of matches conducted without spectators.