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Iranian supporters in the stands of Azadi Stadium in Tehran, October 10, 2019. ATTA KENARE / AFP

Nearly 4,000 Iranian women attended a football match on Thursday (October 10th) for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran won the qualifying match for World Cup-2022 against Cambodia (14- 0). Held away from the men in the stadium, the supporters have not shunned their pleasure.

With our correspondent in Tehran, Siavosh Ghazi

It was in a warm and friendly atmosphere that several thousand women were able to watch the Iran-Cambodia match. Some 3,500 tickets were sold to women over the internet but in the face of the crowds, the authorities decided to let several hundred women attend the match.

For Nahaleh, a 37-year-old Iranian football fan, this is an important first step:

" I like football since my childhood. I am 37 years old now and I have been football since my childhood. I attended ten matches, including two in Iran. I suddenly saw that a reporter tweeted that you could buy tickets on the internet. I did it immediately. I also warned my friends who bought tickets. I wish I could attend any game I like. "

But simple Iranian women, like Sara, 25, also came to see what was the atmosphere of this first match open to women:

" This is the first time I come to the stadium. I do not know much about football. I have a friend who loves football and I came for her but also to see what the atmosphere was. "

The authorities' decision to let women into the stadium comes after the tragic death of a young Iranian woman, Sahar Khodayari , who set herself alight after thinking she was sentenced to prison for trying to to enter a stadium.

The opening also comes after pressure from FIFA that threatened to boycott the Iranian team if women were not allowed to go to the stadiums to watch football games.

► To read also: The "blue girl", sad symbol of the struggle of the Iranian women for access to the stadiums