Oct 17, 2018

After nearly four decades, a group of Iranian women officially entered the iconic Azadi Stadium in the capital Tehran to watch a soccer friendly between Iran and Bolivia. The decision was made after a security body affiliated with the Interior Ministry approved a request from the country's soccer federation. But only 150 women were granted the historic chance to attend the game, sparking widespread debate among Iranians.

In the past few years, many young Iranian women have defied the ban on watching men's soccer by disguising themselves in male clothing. In some cases, such risky moves have led to arrests.

On Oct. 16, however, a small group of 150 women, mostly from the female sports community, were allowed to enter Azadi stadium where they were given special entryways and bathrooms. Hours ahead of the match, selfies of excited female fans found their way onto social media networks. One photo after the match showed empty stadium seats that were cleaned up by the female spectators.

Printing a full photo of the female fans on its front page, the pro-Reform newspaper Etemad hailed the development as "a step forward." Iran, the official daily of the moderate administration of President Hassan Rouhani, also welcomed the news, which "Iranian women had for long been looking forward to." While lambasting the fact that other women were not granted entry, the paper argued that what happened at the stadium "ended the spell" and created hopes that one day all women will have the chance to watch men's soccer matches in Iran. "What drew attention more than Iran's win against Bolivia was women's presence in the stadium," wrote another moderate daily, Arman. But Aftab, despite being a Reform-leaning paper, spoke critically of why only "privileged women" were allowed in.

Conservative papers, which have for long stood against the idea of women entering stadiums over touted religious and social considerations, remained muted on the story. But a reaction from the country's prosecutor general probably just showed how wide the rift is between Iran's hard-liners and Reformists. "For women to see the half-naked bodies of men [playing in the pitch] is religiously forbidden," said Mohammad Jafar Montazeri. "And this is in violation of [the rules] of an Islamic country." The conservative cleric also advised government officials to stop the trend or face judicial "action."