{"id":32438,"date":"2018-06-20T14:30:52","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T21:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=32438"},"modified":"2018-06-20T15:51:29","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T22:51:29","slug":"the-fact-we-exist-is-huge-irans-women-plotting-course-to-world-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2018\/06\/20\/the-fact-we-exist-is-huge-irans-women-plotting-course-to-world-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The fact we exist is huge\u2019: Iran\u2019s women plotting course to world stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Guardian – TEHRAN, Twelve years ago Kat Khosrowyar arrived in Iran on holiday. Now she\u2019s driving a revolution in women\u2019s football there.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To say things have changed for women\u2019s football in Iran since Katayoun Khosrowyar first arrived in the country more than 12 years ago would be as understated as the coach of the newly established under-19 side herself. Back then the 30-year-old from Oklahoma known as \u201cKat\u201d arrived in Tehran on a family holiday, was scouted for Iran\u2019s newly formed futsal team and ended up captaining the national side after moving there permanently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t speak the language or know anything about my culture \u2013 all I knew was that the food was really good,\u201d Khosrowyar tells the Guardian. \u201cTwelve years ago there were a lot of restrictions \u2013 people would ask: \u2018Why do you want to play football? Just stay at home and learn to be good wives.\u2019 But now we get lots of help from people who are outspoken about supporting women\u2019s football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Football had been widely played before the revolution in 1979 but strict laws that required all women to wear a headscarf in public meant that for more than two decades riflery was the only international sport open to Iranian women. That began to change after students from the Alzahra University in Tehran set up a futsal team in the early 1990s, with the formation of a national league soon after. In 2005 Jordan invited Iran to send a team to compete in the West Asian Championships and the new national side was born.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot to be learned from those years because men weren\u2019t allowed to be physically involved with women\u2019s football, even though they had all the education,\u201d Khosrowyar recalls. \u201cWe had to get special permission to put on training courses but after all these years things are beginning to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having retired from playing in 2013 after eight years\u2019 service in which Iran climbed from the very bottom of Fifa\u2019s rankings to the top 50, Khosrowyar had already planned the next stage of her career. Since becoming the first Middle Eastern woman to earn her Fifa A-licence, she has taken on the task of coaching two of Iran\u2019s youth sides as well as appearing regularly as a speaker, including a TED talk in 2015 entitled Empowering Women Through Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get hardly any budget so the fact that we exist is huge,\u201d she says. \u201cThe federation is doing the best that it can to get sponsorship for us but it\u2019s difficult. My role in this is to create a pathway for the youth in order to be able to compete in world events.\u201d<\/p>\n

With no domestic youth leagues in the country for prospective players to hone their skills, that is easier said than done. But Khosrowyar describes the introduction of new regulations that will allow 16-year-olds to train with senior clubs as a \u201chuge step\u201d as Iran prepare to qualify for the 2022 Olympics in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will help prepare a squad for the Asian games because at least they have experience of training camps and competitions. The shift is going to take a few more months but we will get there. I\u2019m always on the lookout for more players and I really select them randomly sometimes \u2013 I\u2019ll be walking down the street and see a girl beating up boys. That\u2019s my player right there!\u201d<\/p>\n

In April a group of Iranian women made global headlines when they disguised themselves as men so they could watch a league match at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran. While that is not illegal Khosrowyar says many are discouraged by the large number of hooligans who often go to matches at the national stadium but is hopeful that this is starting to change, with men now permitted to attend female matches as spectators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re like: \u2018So what if a man wants to come and watch me play?\u2019 We\u2019ve made the topic a bit more comfortable for everyone and not such a big deal,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s men are contesting their third successive World Cup finals after breezing through qualification but face an uphill struggle to get out of a group containing Spain and Portugal despite their victory over Morocco in the opening match. But Khosrowyar, who knows all about upsetting the odds, is confident Team Melli can cause a shock.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe in Carlos Queiroz and his method,\u201d she says. \u201cHopefully we will be in for a big surprise at the World Cup. He has really changed the face of Iranian football. When I was appointed he said he was always here if I ever need any help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that she has needed it so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Guardian – TEHRAN, Twelve years ago Kat Khosrowyar arrived in Iran on holiday. Now…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26307,"featured_media":32439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,170,140,137,89,91,93,86,155,133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c47-featured-news","category-iran-u17","category-iran-u19","category-irans-u16","category-c16-iranian-legionairs","category-c20-other-news","category-c22-players-spotlight","category-c13-team-melli-news","category-womens","category-c14-youth-teams"],"views":894,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32440,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32438\/revisions\/32440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}