auslandsjournal -Iran's secret heroines
Just like other women in Iran, they fight for equal rights every day. As sportswomen, female footballers are almost invisible + want to be noticed. The national players have accepted the compulsory headscarf and play under difficult conditions. For ZDF correspondent Jörg Brase, it was not easy to get permission from the Iranian football association to film because critical questions are unwelcome. He was all the more surprised to see how openly the players and the trainer spoke out about the headscarf.
Parisa Pourtaherian is a sports photographer, her friend Fatemeh Ebrahimi a journalist. Both love football and do everything they can to report on it, even against political opposition. They have turned their passion into a profession and dream of having their own football TV channel on YouTube.
Pioneering work, says Fatemeh, and a venture in the Islamic Republic. Since the heavy protests in autumn 2022, since the death of the Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody after a headscarf check, women are again forbidden to watch men's games in the stadium. In Isfahan, ZDF correspondent Jörg Brase meets a female futsal player who, like the two friends, is fighting for her sport and more women's rights.
Azam Akhondi is a goalkeeper for the national futsal team and she finally wants recognition for the sport she plays with so much passion. Men are not allowed to attend women's games in Iran, TV does not broadcast + sponsors are therefore not interested. Azam comes from a conservative family and had to travel an arduous path to her sporting success.
She shows her training places and introduces her parents, who are proud of their daughter today. Iran's women fight for their dream, they fight against discrimination + hope for change to come someday in the Islamic Republic.
Broadcasting on 19th of July 2023 at 10.15pm + on 20th of July 2023 at 02.15am on ZDF + on 21th of July 2023 at 08.50am on ZDF info
Music: POPVIRUS Library