The Iranian women’s national soccer team will compete in the Asian Games without their captain after her husband decided to withhold her passport. Niloufar Ardalan, 30, will miss out on this year’s games — scheduled to start Thursday in Malaysia — because her husband, sports journalist Mahdi Toutounchi, wants her to be home on their son’s first day of school.
In Iran, men are legally allowed to deny their wives the right to travel. Ardalan’s story was first reported by Persian language website fararu.com on Monday and drew outrage on social media, including from high-profile figures in U.S. women’s soccer.
Wow. WOW again. Read this about Iranian captain of women's soccer team. Husband took her passport so can't travel: http://t.co/DWdMvwibyE
— Julie Foudy (@JulieFoudy) September 16, 2015
Everyone should be able to represent their nation. Thank you #NiloufarArdalan for your fight. I'd be honored to play against you one day.
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) September 17, 2015
Ardalan, whose nickname is “Lady Goal,” responded with an Instagram post on Tuesday saying that foreign media was exaggerating her case but acknowledging that Iran’s laws need change.
“I am only a national soldier who fights to raise flag of our country,” she wrote. “I wish a law would be approved that allows female soldiers to fight for raising the flag.”
Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, women’s sports fell by the wayside in Iran. Over the years, restrictions have slowly loosened and now women are able to participate in a number of athletics — though they are still required to don a hijab while playing.
Beyond participating in sports, Iranian women have been banned from even attending sporting events since 1982. Last year, British-Iranian woman Ghoncheh Ghavami was imprisoned for five months after trying to attend a major volleyball match.
“The situation has got worse in recent years and hardliners have become more extreme on this matter but on the positive side, more people are aware of our cause now than ever before,” Asieh Amini, a women’s rights campaigner told the Guardian.
In April of this year, the Iranian sports minister said women would be permitted at major sporting events; the overturning of the ban did not include all sports, however. “This proposal is designed according to our cultural, social and religious sensibilities and for certain sports which are exclusive to men, families [and women] cannot attend matches,” Deputy Minister for Sports Abdolhamid Ahmadi said.
In 2006, filmmaker Jafar Pahani made a film about a girl who dresses as a boy to attend a World Cup qualifying match. The film was later banned in Iran and in 2010 Pahani was sentenced to six years in prison and barred from filmmaking for 20 years.