Iranian Women Can Attend Stadium Soccer Games After Ban Is Lifted

Iranian women can FINALLY attend stadium soccer games after 40 long years.

After 40 years, Iranian women can now attend stadium soccer.

FIFE pressured Iran to lift its 1979 ban on women soccer spectators because it violated FIFA’s code of ethics. Failure to comply could’ve allowed FIFA to suspend Iran’s national team from international competitions life the World Cup.

The new policy comes after the tragic death of Sahar Khodayari, a fan who posed as a man to watch a game in March 2019. She was arrested, and after learning she could face prison time, she set herself on fire and died a week later. The now-lifted man had sparked outrage and public protests.

FIFA’s Human Rights Advisory Board has said the ban violates its code of ethics, which prohibits discrimination based on gender.

Iran reportedly allocated 3,500 tickets for the women’s section at Iran’s 2022 World Cup qualifier on October 10, 2019, in a stadium that has the capacity to seat 78,000. All of those tickets reportedly sold out within minutes.

“At times there are these lines in the sand moments, to set a new era,” FIFA Head of Education Social Responsibility Joyce Cook stated. “We expect that the access for women into matches is also going to happen in the leagues as well. This is a moment of real change.”

Not everyone is happy with the number of tickets that were made available to women for the qualifier match. “Organization Amnesty International described the move as a “cynical publicity stunt” and that there were only a “token number” of tickets made available for women, according to BBC.