![\"\"](\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Team-Melli-2022-515x343.png\")
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0as holding down the fort and with every save it seemed like he was gaining more confidence! However, shortly into the second half, Alireza Jahanbakhsh\u2019s long through pass slipped under the feet of the fumbling Iraqi defender and Mehdi Taremi, the leading scorer of Porto FC, calmly lobbed the ball over the diving goalkeeper. Taremi\u2019s goal meant even a little more since he had just landed in Tehran twelve hours earlier from a long 4-day layover in Turkey from Portugal! Iran joins Germany, Denmark, Brazil, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, Netherlands, Argentina, and host Qatar in becoming the 14th team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nTeam Melli made history by qualifying for the third consecutive time. As the game ended, joyful Iranians, who are no stranger to economic and social hardships in the past decade, took to the streets and celebrated Team Melli\u2019s victory and advancement to the tournament! This victorious night had other reasons for celebration as well since, for the first time in decades, Iranian women were allowed to attend a match in Azadi Stadium once again! The Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran has long excluded women from purchasing tickets to attend matches across the country. However, after football fan Sahar Khodayari set herself on fire and died in protest more than 2 years ago, FIFA has played a more active role in ensuring that women can attend the games as well. Since then, attendance of Iranian women in the stadium has become more routine. This is not to say that the problems of the past are resolved; accessing tickets is still not as simple as they can be and women still are discouraged to attend these events. As football continues to be Iran\u2019s favorite pastime, with such positive steps forward there ought not to be any turning back or stopping!<\/p>\n
While Team Melli (the men\u2019s team) benefits from decades of structure, experience, and support in place, Team Melli Banovan continues to battle the domestic stigma of women playing the game and wearing hijab while doing so on an international scale. Although in 2007 and 2011 Team Melli Banovan competed and placed second in the West Asian Football Federation Women\u2019s Championship, respectively, in 2011 they were banned by FIFA for wearing hijabs while playing the game, which led to Iran forfeiting their participation in the Summer Olympics the following year. Unfortunately, the ban was an \u201con brand\u201d move from FIFA at that time since Sepp Blatter, then-president of FIFA, had made numerous comments on increasing the popularity of the women\u2019s game by letting \u201cthe women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have tighter shorts.\u201d While the ban was lifted a year after its implementation, the negative influence on the game in Iran had already affected the set up and system in place for the national team. Team Melli Banovan continued to struggle to qualify for the AFC Women\u2019s Asian Cups in 2014 and 2018. However, with the qualification for the current games, the Iranian women made history. Even though Team Melli Banovan has struggled in the competition so far, losing by 7 goals to China and 5 goals to Chinese Taipei, the goal for this tournament is to not only give the team experience playing in the highest of levels, but to demonstrate to girls and women across the country that becoming a professional and successful football player can be achieved by them as well!<\/p>\n Comoros\u2019 Fairytale: No Goalkeeper for You<\/b><\/p>\n Comoros was facing the hosts Cameroon, a team filled with international superstars. Now celebrated as a giantkiller, Comoros\u2019 chances were slim to none after it was announced that their starting goalkeeper was injured and his two understudies had tested positive for COVID-19. This meant that Comoros was forced to play an outfield player in the goal; something that is seen once in a blue moon when during a game there are no substitutions left and a goalkeeper receives a red card. This was an extra special occasion as the substitutes were sickened not during the match, but days before it. It is common practice to have a rule in place which allows teams to call up more players in special cases, but this was not in place at the AFCON. Comoros was never meant to make it this far and with the crisis at hand, they marched forward to defeat the odds one more time! However, this time the likely winner stepped up and Cameroon was the one to advance after a commanding 2 – 1 victory.<\/p>\n With Comoros making history and becoming another fairytale in the book of the game, the image of Alhadhur, the outfield player who played in the goal and made a number of strong saves, embodies what the game stands for\u2014passion. The image is from the back of Alhadhur\u2019s jersey who used tape to cover his number with the number 3. A true demonstration of Comoros\u2019 very own hero\u2019s journey with no stones unturned!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Team Melli\u2019s Nowruz Gift, Team Melli Banovan\u2019s Return, Comoros\u2019 Fairytale By Danial Golforoush Team Melli\u2019s Nowruz Gift: This Year\u2019s Eidi Came Early Much like those in many other developing countries, Iranians often look up to their athletes for a brighter day by making a statement on the international scene. In January, Iran\u2019s men\u2019s national football<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-culture"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Iran-women-player-515x343.png\")
Team Melli Banovan\u2019s Return: New Beginnings for Iranian Women<\/b><\/span>
<\/span>Team Melli is synonymous with joy, passion, pride, and sorrow at times! The Iranian women\u2019s team (Team Melli Banovan) has often been neglected by the public due to lack of resources and exposure, but with its return to the biggest stage of the Asian football scene\u2014the AFC Women\u2019s Asian Cup India 2022\u2014the team has created a new momentum for women\u2019s football across the country! Team Melli Banovan\u2014led by Maryam Irandoost, a former professional football player and coach who is coaching the team once again\u2014is fighting on and off the field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Comoros-team-515x343.png\")
Comoros, an impoverished archipelago with a population of less than one million people located off Africa\u2019s eastern coast, grabbed headlines as it qualified for the African Cup of Nations. This, despite having only joined the Confederation of African Football in 2003 and becoming a FIFA member in 2005. The start of Comoros\u2019 AFCON campaign began with defeats to two of the heavyweights of the tournament in Gabon and Morocco. Moving on to the next round of the competition seemed impossible with Ghana next! But in the biggest turn of events in the history of the game, Comoros defeated Thomas Partey\u2019s Ghana with an 85th winner from Ahmed Mogni! This victory was just enough to get them over the line to the last 16.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n