TEHRAN: Separated from male supporters, hundreds of Iranian women watched as Kashima Antlers of Japan won the Asian Champions League for the first time on Saturday.

Kashima beat Iranian champion Persepolis 2-0 on aggregate after the second leg ended in a goalless draw at the imposing Azadi Stadium.

Women have been mainly prohibited from attending men’s games and other sports events in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“Today is a historic and festive day for football, a real breakthrough,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said.

“I was delighted to personally witness that, for the first time in 40 years, Iranian female football fans were allowed to attend an official match again.

“The fact that over 1,000 women could cheer their favorite team and that this took place during Asian football’s most important game of the season ... makes this occasion even more special.”

The Japanese side had won the first leg 2-0 in Kashima last week with Brazilian duo Leo Silva and Serginho on target.

That left Persepolis, also chasing their first continental title, with plenty to do in Tehran and although they created several chances in front of a 100,000-strong crowd at the Azadi Stadium, Go Oiwa’s men held on to their two-goal advantage.

With the victory, Oiwa’s team became the second Japanese club in a row to win the Asian Champions League after Urawa Reds Diamonds’ success in 2017, earning Kashima another trip to the FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates next month.

“I am so proud that we have won the Asian Champions League title for the first time,” Oiwa told reporters. “We played Real Madrid in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup two years ago but, for me, tonight is more satisfying as we won the title. The name of Kashima Antlers will now echo throughout Asia.”

Oiwa was an assistant coach when Kashima, who qualified as J.League champions, reached the final of the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup on home soil and he took over at the helm when Masatada Ishii was fired six months later.

In that final, a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick carried Real to a 4-2 extra-time victory in Yokohama and Antlers could face the Spanish giants again in the semi-finals of the global tournament next month if they can find a way past Mexico’s Guadalajara.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2018