Iran has again denied women entry to a football stadium to watch the match between their national team and that of Lebanon, Iranian media reported on Wednesday. The match, counting for the qualifications for the 2022 World Cup and won by the Iranians (2-0), took place on Tuesday March 29, at the Imam Reza stadium in the city of Mashhad, in the northeast of the country.
“About 2,000 Iranian women, who had bought tickets for the Iran-Lebanon match, were present in the perimeter of the Imam Reza stadium, but could not enter the stadium”, said the ISNA news agency. They should have represented a good part of the public because 12,500 tickets had been sold.
“I apologize that many people could not enter the stadium and watch the football match between the national teams of Iran and Lebanon”Mohsen Davari, governor of Mashhad, told Iranian state television IRIB. “Unfortunately, it was not possible for a large number of people outside to enter the stadium”he added.
Faced with the outcry over this incident, Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi ordered Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi to follow up on the matter. “Team Melli” captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh said on Tuesday: “I don’t think anything would have happened if the women had come to the stadium, and on the contrary it can help our culture.” For his part, Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri ruled on the radio on Wednesday that “if the conditions allowed the sale of tickets to women, we had to find a suitable place for them”.
The clerics, who play a major role in decision-making, argue that women should be protected from the masculine atmosphere and from the sight of men in sportswear, and whose bodies are therefore partially visible.
Iranian women were allowed to attend a national team football match last January for the first time in nearly three years. An event because, for 40 years, the Islamic Republic generally prohibited spectators from attending football matches.
FIFA, which had ordered Iran in September 2019 to allow women’s access to stadiums without restriction, has expressed its “worry” about the Mashhad incident, and “ask the Iranian Football Federation for more information on this”.
The world body’s 2019 directive threatening Iran with suspension came after a fan died after setting herself on fire for fear of being jailed for trying to attend a game . His death sparked an outcry and many called for Iran to be banned from competition.
“FIFA’s position on the presence of women at football matches in Iran is clear: historic progress has been made – as illustrated by the milestone of October 2019, when women were allowed into the stadium for the first time in 40 years”continued the organization. “Fifa intends to see them continue, because there can be no turning back”they concluded.