Iranian authorities allow women temporary access to stadiums

Following the first and one time decision last October which allowed Iranian women to watch a football match from inside the stadium (https://bit.ly/2kfr9mY), Iranian authorities last week allowed women to enter the stadiums to watch the national league team within the FIFA 2022 Qatar World Cup Qualifiers this upcoming October. The decision came after the Iranian Football Federation received a letter from FIFA president criticizing the government led by Hassan Rouhani for failing to keep its promises to women after the end of the deadline, July 16, given by FIFA to the Asian country. On the subject, Al Akhbar daily reported today that the minister of sports and youth, Masoud Sultani Far, confirmed that the decision is only temporary allowing women to watch the national match and does not apply to local matches by the league. The newspaper also pointed out that Iranian women will not sit next to men on the stadiums, but will be assigned a private entrance and seats to avoid mixing with male cheerers.  (Al Akhbar, September 3, 2019)