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Unlike soccer games, which Iranian women have never been allowed to watch live, attending volleyball games had been within the reach of Iranian women until 2012. After a ban that lasted five years, Iran’s female sports fans purchased their tickets to the Iran-Belgium volleyball game in June, following an announcement by the Iran Volleyball Federation that women could also purchase tickets online for the first 10 minutes after going on sale.
In 2012, Iran banned women from watching men play volleyball in stadiums. The measure, although never ratified as a law, was taken following complaints by the hard-line group Ansar-e Hezbollah as well as criticisms by Shiite grand clerics.
