A dual Iranian-American citizen, who grew up in Tulsa, Okla., has become a leading coach in Iran's nascent professional girls' soccer program, and she tells Lesley Stahl she sees an increasing number of women and girls playing the sport across the country. Stahl goes to Iran to speak to Katayoun Khosrowyar and see this so-called soccer revolution first-hand on the next edition of 60 MINUTES SPORTS, Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 8:00 PM, ET/PT on SHOWTIME.
Khosrowyar is one of the women fostering the growth of Iran's youth soccer program. She grew up playing soccer in Tulsa,
BECOMING a top local player by the age of 16. During a summer visit with relatives in Tehran, she was discovered playing a type of indoor soccer called futsal by a coach starting an Iranian national women's soccer team. Khosrowyar was one of the only female soccer players in Iran at the time, and the coach convinced her not to return to the U.S. but to stay in Tehran and represent Iran on the national team. She says the decision was clear: "Here you had women, it's the first time. And the passion, the integrity, the energy that they had," she tells Stahl. "I felt like I had to be here to help and promote this."
Female athletes in Iran are required to wear uniforms that conform to the country's Islamic modesty laws, including headscarves known as hijabs. Men and woman are also not allowed to attend public stadium matches, like soccer games, together. "Well...it's televised...everyone can watch it," says Khosrowyar. "This has been a big subject...it's a matter of time... [it's] a step-by-step process. Who knew 11 years ago women's soccer would have been started in Iran?"
Khosrowyar played for the Iranian women's national team for several years, and now plays an important role in promoting the growth of female athletes by training young players in the burgeoning girls' professional youth soccer program. One of the girls she coaches is the daughter of Reza Torkaman, a former soccer player, who trained his daughter, but can't watch her compete. "Because of some of the limits at the moment in Iran, I can't [watch my daughter play], but hopefully I can come watch her someday."
As more Iranian female athletes have stepped into the global spotlight, there has also been more attention on the ban on women attending men's stadium matches in Iran. Stahl speaks with one high-level Iranian official, vice president for Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi, who believes women should be able to watch the men's stadium games. Molaverdi tells Stahl the naysayers believe the stadiums are too vulgar a place for women and families. "But we believe the presence of women would actually improve the situation... This is a right for women, and it's not an excessive one," she says.
About
Showtime Networks:
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of
CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, and also offers
Showtime ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND®, and the network's authentication service
Showtime ANYTIME®.
Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME®.
Showtime is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Apple®, Roku®, Amazon and Google. Consumers can also subscribe to
Showtime via Hulu, Sony PlayStation® Vue and Amazon Prime Video. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™, and offers Smithsonian Earth™ through SN Digital LLC. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a
Pay-Per-View basis through
Showtime PPV. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.
Image courtesy of CBS News
Comments
To post a comment, you must
register and
login.
.png)
