Hundreds of tickets women’s fans were locked out of the Imam Reza stadium in the north eastern city of Mashhad, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.
It was not the first time Iran denied women entry to a football stadium to watch an international match. This time around, it was during Iran’s World Cup qualifier against Lebanon on Tuesday night.
“About 2,000 Iranian women, who had bought tickets for the Iran-Lebanon match, were present in the perimeter of Imam Reza stadium but could not enter the stadium,” ISNA news agency said.
Iran’s team captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh joined in criticism of the lockout.
“I don’t think anything would have happened if women had come to the stadium, and this could promote our culture,” he said, quoted on IRIB state television.
Mohsen Davari, governor of Mashhad, told IRIB: “I apologise that many people couldn’t enter the stadium. Unfortunately, a large number of people outside the stadium were deprived of watching the game.”
As a result of the controversy, President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday instructed the interior ministry to look into the incident.In January, women were allowed to attend an international for the first time in almost three years, for a World Cup qualifier against Iraq.
The Islamic republic has generally barred female spectators from football and other sports stadiums since it was established in 1979.
But world football’s governing body FIFA ordered Iran in September 2019 to allow women access to stadiums without restriction and in numbers to be determined according to demand for tickets.
