Iran’s ‘Blue Girl’ Dies for Watching Soccer, Backlash Explodes

(Bloomberg) -- An Iranian woman awaiting trial for trying to enter a soccer match set herself on fire and died, setting off an outpouring of grief and criticism of the Islamic Republic’s restrictive policies toward women.

In Iran, women who enter sports arenas face jail time. Sahar Khodayari, who came to be known as the “blue girl” for the colors of Esteghlal F.C., the team she went to cheer in the capital Tehran, was to attend trial on Tuesday.

The incident has revived calls in some quarters to end the state’s discriminatory policies toward women. Some of Iran’s most popular soccer players have called for a boycott of stadiums, and FIFA, the world soccer organization, demanded protection for women fighting to lift the stadium ban.

“She wasn’t just the ‘blue girl’. Sahar was the ‘Iran girl,’ where men decide the fate of women and can deprive them of their most basic human rights,” reformist lawmaker Parvaneh Salahshouri tweeted on Tuesday. “We are all responsible for the jailing and the self-immolation of all of the Sahars of this country.”

Ali Karimi, a retired soccer player with 4.5 million followers on Instagram, shared a widely circulated meme of a female silhouette, arms aloft and a soccer ball where her heart would be. A popular former Esteghlal player, midfielder Farhad Majidi, tweeted a photo of an empty stadium with the caption, “Sahar, my dear, the stands at Azadi stadium will forever yearn to see you.”

So far the only government official to comment is the vice president of women’s and family affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar, who wrote Tuesday on Telegram that she was assured that the government would take action, without specifying what it would be.

FIFA Standing

Much of the public outrage has been directed at Iranian authorities for failing to amend a law that could harm Iran’s standing within FIFA, the global body that organizes soccer’s World Cup. Hundreds of Twitter users have urged FIFA to penalize Iran, and the organization asked authorities “to ensure the freedom and safety of any women engaged in this legitimate fight to end the stadium ban for women.”

FIFA had set an Aug. 31 deadline for Iran to allow women to enter sports venues, but Iranian authorities have only promised to allow women to attend an Oct. 10 World Cup playoff, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. When FIFA President Gianni Infantino last visited Tehran in November, he attended an Asian Champions League match, where hundreds of handpicked women were allowed entry and seated in a special “family section.”

But it was a one-off gesture, designed to placate the most powerful body in football, and authorities reinstated the ban after he left. Khodayari, which is not her real name, media have reported, apparently slipped into a match covered up, a photo circulated on Twitter has suggested.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Lin Noueihed in Cairo at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel

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With assistance from Bloomberg