Iran women forced to stay home for German soccer

Reuters - Iran's female soccer fans will be forced to watch a Saturday night friendly against Germany on television after authorities upheld a ban on Iranian women attending stadiums.
Iran's Football Federation said German women could attend the match but barred Iranian women, many of whom are the Islamic country's most passionate fans, often flooding streets after victories to blow whistles and brandish flags.

"Women are not allowed to be present at the stadium for Saturday's match, with an exception for family members from the German embassy," federation spokesman Shahram Vaziri said.

The authorities say they bar women from stadiums to protect them against harrassment from raucous fans, but concessions are often made for foreigners wanting to cheer their team.

But some in the hardline press criticised the decision to allow foreign women in the national stadium.

"This is a pretext to drag women and girls into stadiums," hardline Jomhuri-ye Eslami daily, wrote last week.

Football, Iran's top spectator sport, attracts tens of thousands of fans to stadiums.

"The excitement of being in the stadium is way different from watching the game by television," Athena, a 19-year old Iranian handball player, said. "I have been to basketball and volleyball matches where men play, why not football?"

Several public sports have been out of bounds to women since the 1979 Islamic revolution and female Iranians can only play sports such as football in indoor, women-only sports halls.