On March 29, the final match of the Qatar World Cup qualifiers between Iran and Lebanon took place in Mashhad, Iran, one of Shia Muslims' holiest places. Many Iranians had already booked tickets for the Doha finals, believing that this match would secure Iran's place in the World Cup.
Female football fans chant outside Mashhad's stadium in protest of women being denied access to the game.
These women were seen peacefully chanting in protest in videos shared on social media. They were met by a ferocious police response, with policemen dispersing the gathering with tear gas and batons.
Other footage showed ladies who had been battered doubled over in distress. To combat the effects of the teargas, some women wiped their faces with water and smoked cigarettes.
In past encounters, only select female supporters were permitted.
Apart from the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Iran was the only FIFA member country that prohibited women from attending men's football matches. Since the Islamic Republic's inception in 1979, females have been barred from participating in football and other sports.
In September 2019, FIFA, the world's regulatory body for football, ordered Iran to allow women inside stadiums.
Despite these directions, our Iranian observers report that just a few women have been permitted to attend Iranian national team matches in Tehran's Azadi Stadium, such as those against South Korea in October 2021 and Iraq in January 2022.
According to our Observers and confirmed by media sources, authorities hand-picked certain ladies to attend the matches in order to relieve domestic and international pressure on the Iranian Football Federation.
Women were not allowed into the stadium for the March 29 match in Mashhad, even if they were hand-picked spectators.
'I hope FIFA bans Iran from the World Cup,' says one supporter.
Iranians were outraged after seeing videos of the police response to women protesting outside the stadium. In a show of support, some Iranian men have pledged to boycott football matches. Others proposed that, like Russian teams after the invasion of Ukraine, Iran's national football squad should be barred from competing in the Qatar World Cup. Some Iranian lawmakers, such as Mojtaba Tavangar, promised to interrogate the Minister of Sports following the Iranian New Year holiday.
President Ebrahim Raisi ordered the interior ministry to investigate the incident on March 30.
"It's a pity, but I hope FIFA prohibits Iran from competing in the World Cup in Doha as a result of the crisis in Mashhad and the government's bullying." Attending football games or watching them on TV is no longer enjoyable in this situation," states this Tweet.
"It's not news that women aren't allowed in stadiums or that they get beaten up. They set up some puppets in Tehran [Editor's note: the hand-picked women who are permitted to attend matches in Tehran]. I'm hoping we'll be put on hold. We have no right to be at the World Cup."
FIFA has yet to issue a statement on the happenings in Mashhad. On March 30, a member of the Iranian Football Federation stated that the focus would most likely imply bad news for Iran's football team in the coming days.
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