Foreign media coverage of Iranian women's first appearance in the stadium after four decades of ban
After nearly four decades of being banned from attending stadiums, Iranian women finally managed to attend Azadi Stadium on Thursday, October 8, under pressure from the International Football Federation (FIFA) and the efforts of civil society activists, to a limited extent, to watch the Iranian national team play against Cambodia.
This event received widespread coverage in foreign and international media:
In what many see as a victory for women in Iran after decades of struggle to participate in sports, they wrapped themselves in their country's red, white and green flags and excitedly watched a soccer match between Iran and Cambodia as part of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, the Associated Press reported from Tehran.
Reuters also reported that Iranian women were able to watch their country's national football team play up close for the first time in forty years, and not only celebrated their long-awaited entry into Azadi Stadium, but also paid tribute to Sahar Khodayari, known as the "Blue Girl," a football fan who lost her life last month.
Iranian women, waving their country's flags and taking selfies, freely entered the Azadi Stadium in western Tehran on Thursday for the first time in decades, after FIFA threatened to suspend Iranian football over its ban on women from attending stadiums, AFP reported in a similar report.
CNN, stating that the ban on women entering stadiums in Iran is not a written or enacted law and was implemented shortly after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, noted that following pressure from human rights groups and the International Football Federation (FIFA), Iranian officials finally agreed to allow women to enter the stadium.
The American newspaper The New York Times wrote that the limited number of people who managed to buy tickets for the Iranian and Cambodian national teams expressed their joy at finally being able to share their excitement with other fans; however, it is unclear whether the lifting of the ban on women entering stadiums for domestic games will continue.
The British newspaper The Guardian also reported that only about 3,500 Iranian women managed to buy tickets and enter the Azadi Stadium, but this alone is not enough to encourage the Islamic Republic, and it is necessary to completely lift the ban on women entering all stadiums and take other important steps to achieve this goal.
In a statement on Thursday, the FIFA president described the presence of Iranian women at Azadi Stadium to watch the Iranian men's national football team play Cambodia as a positive step forward, saying that this is the moment that FIFA, and especially Iranian girls and women, have been eagerly awaiting, and stressed that "there should be no pause or return now."
Source: Voice of America
