Iranian women attend football match for the first time in nearly 40 years

Iranian women for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution have been allowed to watch a football match between male teams at the country’s stadium, the ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

The Iranian authorities have allowed several dozens of women to attend a friendly match between national teams of Iran and Bolivia, held in the evening of October 16 in Tehran. The Iranian team defeated Bolivia 2-1.

It is unclear whether this is a single case when women have received access to a football match, or this will become a regular occurrence.

Earlier, the BBC TV channel reported that Tehran’s authorities had ruled that "a certain number of women" could attend the international friendly. The priority was given to the families of national team’s footballers, female athletes who compete for Iran’s football and futsal teams, and women working for the Iranian Football Federation.

Women have been barred from attending football matches between male teams since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has stated many times that he does not support this measure, giving the Iranians hope that the ban would be soon lifted. However, until now the authorities had only issued permission for women to attend volleyball matches, while the gates of football stadiums remained closed for them.

During this summer’s FIFA World Cup in Russia Iranian women were allowed to a football stadium to watch the screening of their national team’s match for the first time in the country’s history.