Barred From Stadiums at Home, an Iranian Activist Enters a New World in St. Petersburg

"Held carefully in her two small hands was a prize millions of other soccer fans sometimes take for granted: a match ticket. To be precise, this was a ticket to Iran’s opening game at this World Cup, against Morocco in St. Petersburg on Friday. Her first ticket to see her national team play live. That she held it at all was the reason she could not stop checking to ensure that it was safe, and that it was real.

“It is so beautiful,” she said.

She had traveled to Russia from Iran, where women are barred from attending men’s matches. She has become an activist in a 13-year campaign to persuade the authorities to rescind the ban and, as such, uses the name Sara to conceal her real identity for fear of arrest."
READ THE NEWSTORYBY JAMES MONTAGUE