Since then, national team matches were held with no spectators due to Covid-19 restrictions. "I bought the tickets online and got an SMS confirming it," Mahya said, adding that "if we win, we will go celebrate the victory in the streets." She added that "there is nothing strange or complicated" about a woman going to the stadium. "It should have happened earlier but I am very happy and I hope that this will continue," she said. The women were separated from men in the stands and monitored by policewomen. "I wished to have my husband beside me but they said men and women are segregated," said another female fan, Golnaz Bahari, 24.
