Iranian women attend first football match in 37 years

Iranian women have attended their first top-level league game in almost 40 years, a step hailed as a major victory by reformist newspapers in the country.

Iranian women and girls have not been allowed to attend any men’s sporting events for much of the 39 years since the Islamic revolution, and have not been granted access to matches involving top clubs since 1981.

In March, 35 women were detained for trying to attend a match between Iran’s most popular team Persepolis and fellow Tehran outfit Esteqlal.

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Last month around 100 women were allowed to watch a friendly between Iran and Bolivia, “but restrictions were quickly reinstated”, reports the BBC.

That finally changed on Saturday, when nearly 500 women were allowed to attend the Asia Champions League final in Tehran, Iran's semi-official Isna news agency reports.

Most were said to be relatives of players or members of women’s teams, “but the move is being seen as a possible permanent end to the exclusion of women from top matches”, says The Independent.

Local newspapers hailed the move as a “victory” while football’s world governing body, Fifa, which has been working with Iran to end the ban, called it an “historic and festive day” for the sport.

Channel News Asia reports that reformist Etemad newspaper led with a front page which read: “Women were the winners of Azadi ('Freedom') match”.

A picture on the front page of another reformist daily, Sazandegi, showed women cheering at the stadium with a headline reading: “Iranian women's victory in Asian finals”.

Haft-e Sobh newspaper, which has no marked political affiliation, carried a banner headline on its front page that read: “A thousand real women.”

Last week Reuters reported that a petition from Open Stadiums, a group which campaigns for access to sporting venues for Iranian women, was handed to Fifa signed by more than 200,000 people.

Speaking before Saturday's game, a spokesperson for the group said overturning women's exclusion “has been our dream for decades”.

“We are always excluded from public happiness and excitement,” the spokesperson told Reuters by e-mail on condition of anonymity.