Kurdish women football team wins fifth season

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Kurdistan Province Municipality Team beat Negin Ashtarankooh Lorestan 1-0 in gameweek 16 of the Iranian women’s Premium League competition, winning the competition for a fifth season in a row.

On Friday, Kurdistan and Lorestan competed in a rainy Sina, also known as Sanandaj, the capital of the Kurdistan Province in the northwest of Iran.

“We played for an hour and-a-half under pouring rain. The referees told us the Kurdistan team played much better than Lorestan throughout the game and was in a winning position the entire time,” Mohtaram Heidari in Sina told K24.

Sharmin Rahmati, one of the coaches that has fought hard for the team against the patriarchal system, told K24, "This was an important victory for us. The muddy ground made the competition difficult but the team played well. The victory has boosted the women's confidence that will affect their future games with Gorgan and Bam teams in the coming weeks."

Maleknia Stadium in Sina hosted the sixteenth week of the Premium League where Lorestan played against Kurdistan. Player Samira Esmaeili scored the winning goal for Kurdistan. The Kurdistan team currently has 14 points in the national competition taking place in several cities across the country.

Last week Kurdistan played against Ilam in a scoreless draw. In gameweek 17 of the Premium Leagues competition, Kurdistan will play against Vahdate Isare Gorgan.

The Kurdistan women’s football team became the Iranian champion in winter 2014. In the process, the team had won a major honor for the impoverished Kurdistan province that men’s football teams were never able to achieve.

For these women, playing football isn’t only a sport. They are fighting for equality and demonstrating women’s power and abilities outside of the domestic life.