World Cup sees Iranian women allowed to enter stadium

Iranian women have this week been allowed to enter the Azadi Stadium in Tehran for the first time since 1981 to watch the country’s FIFA World Cup match against Spain on giant screens at the venue.

A special order by the Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli allowed women fans to join crowds entering the venue for a rescreening of the match.

However, the lead-up to the was not without difficulty as around three hours before the game was due to kick off, it was announced the live event had been cancelled due to “infrastructure difficulties”.

Although The Washington Post newspaper reported that people were asked to stay away from the site, fans still turned up at the Azadi Stadium, leading to a standoff with police that were blocking entrances to the venue.

However, men, women and children who had tickets to watch the game at the venue were eventually granted entry after an hour of waiting.

To the sound of horns, chanting and laughing, women were finally allowed inside football stadiums in Iran on Wednesday, fulfilling lifelong dreams of watching a game.

The situation in Iran was a contract to at the actual game in Russia, where Iranian women have travelled to the World Cup in some numbers to see their team in action – as they did for AFC Asian Cup matches in Australia in 2015.

Following last night’s match, a spokesperson for the Azadi Stadium said "there will be no problem" for women hoping to watch a screening of Iran's upcoming match, against Portugal on Monday.

Selfies taken by women inside the grounds circulated on social media and the Iranian football team tweeted a photo of a young woman in the stands holding the national flag.

Five women had previously been inside the Azadi Stadium, in May - but they were wearing beards and wigs to disguise themselves as men.

Women have been banned from watching men’s sports in Iran nation since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, with last night’s event serving as a major milestone for the country.

Image: Women at the Azadi Stadium in the Iranian capital of Tehran during a live broadcast of Iran v Spain last night.