Iran’s Khosrowyar among Women Football Stars Changing the Game
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian-American Katayoun “Kat” Khosrowyar is among female footballers from around the globe who are changing the rules of the game through their talent and activism.
She is the first female coach in the Iranian National Women’s League. The 33-year-old moved to Iran from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she was born, to join the national football team at the age of 17. She went on to become a coach for U-14, then eventually U-19 teams.
Khosrowyar scouted girls from rural areas and pushed to put the team in international competitions, globalvoices.org reported.
In 2011, her team was disqualified from a second-round Olympic qualifying match because of the competition's ban on wearing the hijab.
After three years of campaigning, women were allowed by FIFA to wear a “head covering for religious reasons,” and so “Kat” and her team finally got permission to compete internationally again.
