How an Oklahoman is scoring goals in Iran
A woman from Tulsa, Oklahoma, has emerged as an unlikely mover and shaker in Iranian women’s soccer.
Teenage Iranian girls, in conservative soccer uniforms, screamed for joy and chanted, “Iran! Iran!” The video of the country’s under-19 national team was posted in an Instagram story March 21 by Iranian-American coach Katayoun “Kat” Khosrowyar, after Iran beat Romania 2-1 at the 2018 Kuban Spring Tournament.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kat first visited Iran during the summer of 2005, right before her senior year of high school. At the time, Kat was being scouted to play soccer at the collegiate level. But three days before her flight back to the United States, the head coach of post-revolutionary Iran’s first women’s national team discovered Kat while she trained at a local gym. This marked the beginning of her journey.
“With all the negative media regarding Iran, I wanted to do something historic to help build a bridge between my two countries via football,” Kat told Al-Monitor. “My coach back in America was supportive of my move and told me there would be good things coming my way.”
That very summer, Iran founded a women’s national team with its own take on the soccer uniform to adhere with Islamic law: long-sleeved jerseys, pants and a white hijab, or headscarf. In the years following, the team trained and played numerous matches, aiming to become Asia’s best. Then in 2011, minutes before a match against Jordan, a female FIFA official walked into the locker room and instructed the team to withdraw from the London 2012 Olympic qualifiers because of a uniform restriction. Suddenly, the hijab the players donned for years was considered a violation because FIFA deemed it a choking hazard. Three Jordanian players were also forced to drop out for the same reason. The ruling devastated the players.
