Dismayed Female Futsal Team Leaves World Champ

After losing to Costa Rica last Thursday, Iran’s futsal players looked despondent and frustrated. The match got off to a good start for Iran after the team’s star player, Niloufar Ardalan, known as “Lady Goal,” scored the first goal against Costa Rica in the seventh minute. But Costa Rica fought back in the second half with Priscilla Torres and Natalia López scoring the two goals that secured Costa Rica’s victory. It was Iran’s third consecutive defeat after losing to Brazil and Portugal.

The Iranian team’s lackluster performance was hardly surprising given that they had no time to rest and recover from jetlag after a grueling 85-hour trip from Tehran to Berlin, from Berlin to Mexico and from Mexico to Guatemala City.

The team’s coach Elmira Saminipour explained to IranWire that the fact that Guatemala does not have a diplomatic mission in Tehran made it extremely difficult for players to obtain the necessary visas to travel. The team was forced to request visas to travel to Mexico and then obtain visas to enter Guatemala from the Guatemalan embassy in Mexico City.

After weeks of uncertainty, the players eventually got their visas at the last minute , leaving the team with little time to train for the tournament.

“Our team could have won against Costa Rica and Portugal but our players were tired and they couldn’t do any better,” said Saminipour, who spoke on behalf of the team as the players were instructed not to give interviews.

The tournament ended on a more upbeat note for the Iranian team after a 2-1 victory against Japan, the team at the bottom of group B. “Our players played better today because their bodies were readier,” said Saminipour after the match, visibly more relaxed. “They played well today and I’m happy for them.”

When asked why the team did not arrive a few days before the tournament started in order to give the players some time to recover from their long journey, Saminipour appeared eager to change the subject. “What’s important is that we’re here right now and that we enjoyed the tournament,” she said.

Although the Iranian players felt they had let themselves down, other teams praised their speed and agility on the field. “It was a tough match because the Iranians are very fast,” said Costa Rican player Priscilla Torres, after Thursday’s match.

A popular sport among Iranian women

Women’s futsal is on the rise in Iran ever since the national team won the first edition of the Asian Football Confederation’s Women’s Futsal Championship, held in Malaysia, last September. “After we ranked first in Asia, all Iranian parents want their girls to play. They’ve become more enthusiastic about this sport,” said Saminipour.

Saminipour, who has played futsal for nine years, says that many Iranian girls now attend football academies and compete annually in national tournaments.

After the team’s disappointing performance in Guatemala, Saminipour said the team should put this defeat behind it and look to the future. “In two years time, we should participate in Asian tournaments again. We also want to use younger players to renew our team,” she said.

The team’s youngest player is 19-years old. Although most team members have university degrees, all of them are full-time futsal players as their busy training schedule makes it difficult for them to balance both a job and a sports career. The team trains up to seven times a week.

All team members wear the hejab as well as thick tights in compliance with Islamic dress codes and players insist that wearing the hejab has never hindered their performance, even in hot weather.

Iranian sportswomen’s obligation to play wearing the hejab has been controversial. In 2010, the Iranian women’s national football team was not allowed to participate in the Olympic games after FIFA ruled that head coverings could not be worn on the field. However the ban was dropped two years later.

Fighting for the right to compete

Saminipour refused to comment on Ardalan’s legal battle against her husband to be allowed to travel to Guatemala and compete in the VI Women’s Futsal World Tournament, as she said it was “a private family matter.” Ardalan’s husband, sports journalist Mehdi Toutounchi, refused to sign her travel documents because he wanted her at home for their seven-year-old son’s first day of school.

Under Islamic law, enforced in Iran, a woman needs her spouse’s consent to obtain or renew a passport.

After missing the AFC championship in Malaysia, Ardalan took her case to court, which ruled that she should be allowed to travel to Guatemala after she successfully argued that she was traveling to represent her country as a sportswoman.

“I wish the authorities would create (measures) that would allow female athletes to defend their rights in such situations,” Ardalan told nasimonline.ir. Her decision to speak out sparked controversy on social media with opinions ranging from support for her stance to criticism of her decision to vent a domestic dispute publicly. The team’s managers did not allow Ardalan to be interviewed for this article.

Saminipour insists that Ardalan’s predicament is not a common problem for Iran’s female athletes. She adds, “Many players have got married and have children. They have to quit for a few months while they have the child and then return to playing sports thereafter.”

Photos by Imer Lucero, Immagine Professionale