[custom_adv] When our team takes on Portugal in Saransk on Monday night, there will be a group of fans in the stadium who have not been allowed to watch games back home for decade. [custom_adv] However, two fans who are in Russia running a campaign to have women allowed into stadiums back home say they were targeted and harassed by Russian authorities before countries match with Spain last week. [custom_adv] For Sara, who traveled to the tournament from back home and is using an assumed name to avoid identification by authorities, her country’s opening match against Morocco in St Petersburg was the first time she had been to a football game. [custom_adv] “I’ve watched lots on television but this was so different; I felt like I had stepped into the television set and everything had become 3D,” she said. “I didn’t really know how to cheer, because I’ve never been inside a stadium.” [custom_adv] In the capital matches at the World Cup are screened at the city’s Azadi Stadium. The Morocco game there was open only for men, but the Spain game was open to women too, after an on-and-off situation where women with tickets were first sent home and later told they would be able to attend after all, reflecting the divisive nature of the topic among the ruling elite. [custom_adv] Before the tournament team captain Shojaei launched an online petition calling on Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, to put pressure on the country over the issue. Infantino said in May that he had received assurances from president Rouhani, that the ban would soon be lifted. [custom_adv] When our team takes on Portugal in Saransk on Monday night, there will be a group of fans in the stadium who have not been allowed to watch games back home for decade. [custom_adv] However, two fans who are in Russia running a campaign to have women allowed into stadiums back home say they were targeted and harassed by Russian authorities before countries match with Spain last week. [custom_adv] For Sara, who traveled to the tournament from back home and is using an assumed name to avoid identification by authorities, her country’s opening match against Morocco in St Petersburg was the first time she had been to a football game.
