Women's football in Iran

{{also|Iran women's national football team#History}}

Women's football in Iran started in 1970. Women were participating in male football competitions in alleys and streets, and also took part in some men's football games. During that time, when numerous trainers participated in the top grade of FIFA's training courses in Japan, they were able to see the Japan women's national football team's games against female teams from Korea, Singapore and India. From 1970, serious measures were taken in order to reach appropriate standards.{{cn|date=January 2022}}

Taj was the first club to train women in 1971, and Esteghlal Women F.C. was created. Thereafter, women took part first in football training and then in football teams such as Taj, Deyhim, Persepolis FC, Oghab FC and Khasram. By organising different competitions between those teams, the best players were selected and placed in the first Iranian women's national team. This team was composed of former volleyball players, basketball players and athletes aged from 12 to 18. They started to train more seriously as sport magazines published the news of their progress, then gradually a huge number of female fans arose to support the team. With the help of educational institutions across the country, talented youngsters were scouted. In 1971, competition was organised by a women's sport magazine and the travel company Scandinavian Airlines System (S.A.S) under the supervision of the Football Federation, for that occasion the Italy women's national football team was invited to Iran and had two games against Taj and a team called Tehran in the Amjadieh stadium.{{cn|date=January 2022}}

Women's football continued to grow until the Iranian revolution in 1979. After that time, women were inhibited from playing, and organised football for women ceased to exist for decades. Instead, enthusiastic players turned to playing futsal, a form of indoor football. Women were obliged to wear the hijab as well as coverings for their arms and legs.

Started by Alzahra University around 1993, at first it faced the refusal by the sport's administration, however because of the passion shown by the students towards football, the university changed the law{{explain|date=January 2022}} and the first unofficial female competition was organised since the Iranian revolution. In this competition 10 teams participated, most of them belong to Alzahra University, and the rest were from other national universities. Women's football activity continued to grow until finally, in 1997 the physical education organisation formed a women's futsal committee and since then officially sport clubs have begun to encourage women's futsal teams in Iran.{{cn|date=January 2022}}

File:Bam-Sirjan-Score-001.jpg is about to score a goal in the Iran women's football league match between Bam Khatoon F.C and Shahrdari Sirjan]]

In 2005, American-Iranian football player and enthusiast Katayoun Khosrowyar (Kat Khosrowyar) arrived in the country for a visit, and ended up staying and turning the game around. After hearing about her strengths in playing futsal, the women's president of the Iranian Football Federation as well as the later head coach of the first national team since the Revolution, called on her and asked her to stay. Over the ten years, Khorsrowyar helped to shift public perceptions about the sport, and participation numbers rose and a national women's team program was created, which included youth teams. She is better known to be the first American Iranian championing women's rights to play soccer in the Middle East, specifically in Iran.{{cite web | url=https://www.niacouncil.org/40-under-40/katayoun-khosrowyar/?locale=en | title=Katayoun Khosrowyar | date=26 February 2021 }}

By the early 2010s, Iran's senior women's side were well on their way to what could have been their first appearance at a 2012 London Olympic Games. However, a setback occurred when FIFA banned Iran from a second-round qualifier against Jordan in mid-2011 because of their having to wear hijab, which was enforced by the government.{{cite web | last=Lewis | first=Samantha | title=For Iran, their Asian Cup debut is as much about results on the pitch as it is about changing perceptions off it | website=ABC News| publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=27 January 2022 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-27/irans-women-asian-cup-debut-watershed-moment-muslim-football/100783538 | access-date=27 January 2022}}

After numerous meetings, FIFA eventually lifted the ban in 2014, along with the bans on turbans and kippahs for Sikh and Jewish men. In 2016, Iranian players wore their hijabs in a FIFA-approved tournament, the under-17 Women's World Cup held in Jordan, after for the first time in Iranian women's football history, a national team qualified for the top continental competition in 2015. The U20 and the U17 team's qualified for the Asian Championships in China for their respective age groups.{{fact|date=June 2025}}

Today, the Iran women's national football team competes internationally.{{cite news|agency=Reuters |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/jun/06/iran-women-olympic-strip |title=Iran's women footballers banned from Olympics because of Islamic strip | Football | guardian.co.uk |publisher=Guardian |date= 2011-06-06|accessdate=2012-08-02 |location=London}}

The Kowsar Women Football league, established in 2007, is the primary women's football league in Iran.[http://www.iranleague.ir/League-Full-Table/1040/45 جدول ليگ برتر بانوان - ليگ کوثر] There were 11 teams participating in the 2020-21 season. Khatoon FC, based in Bam, is the most successful team in the history of the competition, with seven titles to their name.{{cite web | last=Banerjee | first=Ritabrata | title=2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup: From Japan's WE League to Australia's A-League Women - How Asia is developing the women's game? | website=Goal.com | date=12 January 2022 | url=https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/2022-afc-womens-asian-cup-all-you-need-to-know-india-rivals/bltf8613bfca3665f23 | access-date=27 January 2022}}

The football revolution (or soccer revolution; {{Langx|fa|انقلاب فوتبال|Enqelâb Futbâl}}) refers to the events in Iran which began around 1997 in the context of football in that country. The idea of a "football revolution" is that the game itself can be used as a part of the secularization of Iran and frame women's rights movements in the country.{{cn|date=January 2022}}

When the Iranian football team narrowly defeated Australia in the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification on 29 November 1997, millions of Iranians celebrated the victory by dancing and singing in the streets, despite multiple government warnings against any secular-type celebrations. The most notable event on that day was that women breached the police barrier and entered the stadium, from which they were banned. Some women even took off their veils.{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1419DAAAQBAJ&dq=%22football%20revolution%22%20iran&pg=PA265|title=Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women|last=Nafisi|first=Azar|date=1999|publisher=Springer|isbn=9780230107380|editor-last=Howland|editor-first=Courtney W.|location=New York|pages=269|language=en|chapter=Tales of Subversion: Women Challenging Fundamentalism in the Islamic Republic of Iran}} There was open socialization between men and women in the streets.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13710957/herald_and_review/|title=United States and Iran Renew Rivalry Today|date=2000|work=Herald and Review|access-date=2017-09-12|pages=4|via=Newspapers.com}} The Western press saw these events as a message to Islamic fundamentalists in Iran.[http://www.uga.edu/bahai/News/020499.html "The Veiled Threat"], by Azar NafisiCourtney W. Howland (ed.) (1999) "Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women", {{ISBN|0-312-21897-4}}, p. 265

When subsequently Iran defeated the United States 2-1 during the actual 1998 FIFA World Cup on 21 June 1998, similar celebrations continued several days, with some women taking off veils and mingling with men, until Iran's 2-0 defeat by Germany.[http://www.farsinet.com/news/jan2000wk2.html FarsiNet News Archive]

Trying to open up stadiums to women to watch football was considered a form of social change.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDAlDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22football%20revolution%22%20iran&pg=PA107|title=Sport and Architecture|last=Flowers|first=Benjamin S.|date=2017-05-08|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781317756323|location=New York|pages=107|language=en}} The idea was that football or soccer presented an alternative to Islamism through secular nationalism. Journalist Franklin Foer compared the football revolution with the Boston Tea Party.Franklin Foer (2004) How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, {{ISBN|0-06-621234-0}}, p. 221 Iranians themselves see football as a way to "ease diplomatic tension" or as a way to create social change within the country.

Since then Iranian women's rights activists started fighting for the right to enter stadiums, often violently breaking into them.[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/4/DB6037CB-DAB3-4EF9-8389-EE0C2A68E900.html "Iran: Women At Sports Events: A Victory, But 'Not Enough'"], Radio Liberty, 24 April 2006[https://www.theguardian.com/iran/story/0,,1760745,00.html "President lifts ban on women watching football in Iran"], The Guardian, 25 April 2006 A film by Jafar Panahi, Offside (2006), is about a group of young women who dress as boys in order to watch football at a stadium.

In April 2006 president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lifted the ban on women entering stadiums despite the objections of conservatives, commenting that women and families help bring morality and chastity to public venues. However, the ban was reinstated by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 8 May 2006.{{cite web | last=Barzin | first=Saeed | title=Iran's women football fans dream of a return to the terraces | website=BBC News | date=16 May 2012 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18071669 | access-date=27 January 2022}}

Further restrictions were enacted that enshrined the restrictions for international and national competitions. In December 2007 the vice president of the Iranian Olympic Committee, Abdolreza Savar, issued a memorandum to all sporting federations about the "proper behavior of male and female athletes" and that "severe punishment will be meted out to those who do not follow Islamic rules during sporting competitions" both local and abroad.[http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Sport/?id=1.0.1687961175 Iran: Women excluded from sports in the name of Islam], Adnkrono, 19 December 2007; accessed 21 September 2008. Men are not allowed to train or coach women. Iran's female volleyball team was once considered the best in Asia, but due to the lack of female coaches it has been prevented from international competition.

Iranian women are allowed to compete in sports that require removal of the hijab, but only in arenas that are all female.[http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/24/sports/ME-OLY-WEI-Iran-Hercules.php Iran gets ready for Beijing Olympics without 'Iranian Hercules'], Associated Press via the International Herald Tribune, 24 July 2008; accessed 21 September 2008. They are banned from public events if spectators include unrelated men.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7537478.stm High hopes of Iran's women rowers], John Leyne, BBC, 1 August 2008; accessed 21 September 2008. Thus, of the 53 Iranian athletes in the Beijing Olympics, there were only three women: Sara Khoshjamal Fekri (taekwondo), Najmeh Abtin (shooting) and Homa Hosseini (rowing).

{{as of|2017}} grassroots women's football organisations continue to flourish in Iran.{{Cite news|url=http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2017/05/31/iran-reaps-success-grassroots-focus-now-turns-developing-womens-game/|title=Iran reaps the success of grassroots as focus now turns to developing women's game - Inside World Football|last=Nicholson|first=Paul|date=2017-05-31|work=Inside World Football|access-date=2017-09-12|language=en-GB}}

File:ACL 2018 Final 13.jpg at the AFC Champions League Final, 2018]]

Women were generally not allowed to attend men's football matches for decades after the Iranian revolution in 1979,[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41151662 Iran football ticket 'glitch' gave female fans hope] - BBC, 4 September 2017 ostensibly to protect them from inappropriate male behaviour. A few women, mainly supporters from outside Iran, were allowed to attend some games, and a small number of Iranian women in 2005. Around 100 women attended the Iran–Bolivia friendly match on 16 October 2018.{{cite news |last1=Lipin |first1=Michael |title=In Rare Move, Iran Lets Some Women Attend Men's Soccer in Tehran |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/in-rare-move-iran-lets-some-women-attend-men-s-soccer-in-tehran/4616841.html |work=VOA News |date=16 October 2018}}

On 10 November 2018, hundreds of women attended the 2018 AFC Champions League Final 2nd leg at the 80,000-seat Azadi Stadium. On 9 November, Fatma Samoura, Secretary General of FIFA, had said she would ask the Iranian government to end the ban on women’s entry to sport stadiums.[https://en.radiofarda.com/a/fifa-engage-iran-on-women-allowed-in-stadiums/29590427.html FIFA To Engage With Iran To Lift Ban On Women In Stadiums] In October 2019, the Iranian Government allowed women to watch a 2022 World Cup qualifier, when the men's team beat Cambodian football team 14-0.{{cite web | title=Iran women freely attend football match for first time in decades | website=Hindustan Times | date=11 October 2019 | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/football/iran-women-freely-attend-football-match-for-first-time-in-decades/story-iryXRClcWt9jbR4HargFXO.html | access-date=27 January 2022}} Up to 3,500 women attended the game in the Azadi Stadium.{{cite web | title=In a first after 2 years, Iran allows female fans to enter stadium for match | website=Hindustan Times | date=4 October 2021 | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/in-a-first-after-2-years-iran-allows-female-fans-to-enter-stadium-for-match-101633361098115.html | access-date=27 January 2022}}{{cite web | title=Iranian women allowed to watch football at stadium for first time in decades | website=The Guardian | date=9 October 2019 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/oct/09/iranian-women-allowed-to-watch-football-at-stadium-for-first-time-in-decades | access-date=27 January 2022}}{{cite web | title=Iranian women allowed to officially attend football games for first time in 40 years | website=ABC News|publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=11 October 2019 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-11/iran-women-soccer-fans-discriminated-limited-tickets-ban-lift/11592542 | access-date=27 January 2022}}

After a year-long ban on all spectators owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, female spectators were allowed into a Tehran stadium for the first time in two years, to watch the men's team play the South Korean national team.

• Iran women's national football team
• Iran women's national futsal team
• Kowsar Women Football league
• Football Under Cover

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• {{in lang|fa}} [http://www.iran-newspaper.com/1381/810504/html/sports.htm#s135336 پاي بانوان به ورزشگاه باز شد]. Iran Newspaper

{{Women's football in Asia}}