Niloufar Ardalan, one of Iran’s best female soccer players, will not be able to compete in the Asian Football Federation Women's Futsal Championship — an indoor version of soccer — because her husband, sports journalist Mahdi Toutounchi, has prohibited her to do so. 
 
 Ardalan, who is nicknamed “Lady Goal,” said her husband has refused to grant her permission to travel, which is required by Islamic laws enforced in Iran. A woman needs her spouse’s consent to obtain or renew a passport. Ardalan told Shirzanan Global, a news outlet that promotes participation in sports by female Muslims, that her passport had expired and her husband had refused to sign the paperwork needed to renew. Toutounchi reportedly wants his wife home for their 7-year-old son’s first day of school on Sept. 23. 
 
 The tournament begins on Sept. 17 and runs until Sept. 26. 
 
 Ardalan, 30, is the captain of the Iranian team and is now fighting for a change in the discriminatory travel laws that favor men. Men do not need their wives’ permission to travel abroad. 
 
 "I wish authorities would create [measures] that would allow female athletes to defend their rights in such situations," Ardalan told Nasimonline.ir. 
 
 "These games were very important to me. As a Muslim woman, I wanted to work for my country's flag to be raised [at the games], rather than traveling for leisure and fun." 
 
 During the Islamic revolution in 1979, the government abolished almost all women’s sports. For two decadea, rifle was the only sport in which Iranian women could compete internationally because women could participate while fully covered, which is custom in traditional Islamic states. That’s why soccer, which typically involves players wearing shorts and short sleeves was banned, but futsal steadily gained popularity in the early 2000s. 
 
 In 2005, the Iranian government formed a women’s soccer team to participate in the West Asian Football Federation Women’s Championship and the futsal clubs became the recruiting ground. The Iranian women’s team finished second in the tournament and the government agreed to start supporting a women’s youth program to feed the national team on a regular basis for various competitions, including the FIFA Women’s World Cup. 
 
 Story Continues 
 
 However, while Iran was allowing women to play a sport their not actually allowed to watch in Islamic states — women are banned from watching live soccer games — it held firm to its use of traditional garb. Iranian players were forced to wear uniforms that covered their entire bodies, including head coverings called hijabs. This hindered foreign competitions because opposing teams refused to wear the head coverings on the field. The Iranian women's national team got around this rule by playing games in a special stadium set aside for Iran’s Christian Armenian community. Iranian players wore head coverings, but opponents did not. 
 
 In 2010, the Iranian women’s national team was disqualified from Olympic qualifying after FIFA banned head coverings on the field. The ban ultimately was reversed in 2012. 
 
 Ardalan’s decision to go public with her husband’s travel ban has sparked several debates across social media with opinions that range from outrage about Ardalan making her domestic dispute public to outcries for change in the Islamic law. 
 
 Shadi Sadr, a prominent Iranian women's rights advocate and the director of the London-based rights group Justice For Iran, told the website RFE/RL that Ardalan’s decision to speak out was bold and that she speaks for thousands of Iranian women facing the same plight. 
 
 "This just shows to what extent this law can impact a woman's life," Sadr toldRFE/RL. "Even if a woman reaches the highest ranks in politics, sports, or culture, she still needs her husband's consent for one of her most basic rights — traveling abroad. 
 
 “She broke the silence, and this could lead to other women taking the courage to detail and shed light on other similar cases." 
 
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 It's a man's world for Niloufar Ardalan, one of Iran's best female soccer players and known as Lady Goal for her on-field exploits in international women's Islamic tournaments. 
 
 Ardalan says she will not be able to compete in an upcoming tournament in Malaysia because her husband has refused to grant her permission to travel abroad as required by Islamic laws enforced in Iran. 
 
 The 30-year-old athlete has captained Iran's national team and was set to compete in the Asian Football Confederation's women's championship in futsal, an indoor version of soccer in which each team fields five players, to be held in the Malaysian town of Nilai on September 21-26. 
 
 In Iran, however, married women need the consent of their husbands to leave the country and can be banned from traveling abroad if their spouses do not sign the paperwork needed to obtain or renew a passport. 
 
 Ardalan says her husband, a sports journalist and television presenter, has used this authority to prevent her from competing in the upcoming tournament because he does not want her to miss the first day of school for her 7-year-old son on September 23. 
 
 The frustrated soccer star says she had trained hard for weeks to compete in the games and make her country proud. 
 
 "But my husband didn't give me my passport so that I can [participate] in the games, and because of his opposition to my travel abroad, I [will] miss the matches," Ardalan said in a September 11 interview with the news site Nasimonline.ir. 
 
 In a September 12 interview with Shirzanan Global, a news portal that promotes participation in sports by female Muslims, Ardalan said that her passport had expired and that her husband had refused to sign a form required for its renewal. 
 
 The case highlights Iran's discriminatory laws that favor men, including in matters related to inheritance, divorce, and child custody, and effectively give women the status of second-class citizens. 
 
 Iranian men do not need permission from their wives to travel abroad. 
 
 "I wish authorities would create [measures] that would allow female athletes to defend their rights in such situations," Ardalan was quoted by Nasimonline.ir as saying. 
 
 She added: "These games were very important to me. As a Muslim woman, I wanted to work for my country's flag to be raised [at the games], rather than traveling for leisure and fun." 
 
 There has not been any public comment from Ardalan's husband, Mehdi Toutounchi, who, according to Iranian media, has been supportive of women's soccer in the past. 
 
 Breaking The Silence 
 
 Shadi Sadr, a prominent Iranian women's rights advocate and the director of the London-based rights group Justice For Iran, says the case demonstrates the need to change the travel law, which she says affects tens of thousands of Iranian women. 
 
 "This just shows to what extent this law can impact a woman's life," Sadr said in a telephone interview with RFE/RL. "Even if a woman reaches the highest ranks in politics, sports, or culture, she still needs her husband's consent for one of her most basic rights -- traveling abroad." 
 
 Ardalan's case and her decision to go public about the travel ban have attracted considerable attention on social media, where many have condemned her husband's refusal to allow her to compete in the tournament. 
 
 "Is this the only way [Ardalan's husband] could prove he's a man?" one woman wrote in a Facebook discussion devoted to the issue. 
 
 "Many Iranian men pretend in cyberspace that they're defenders of women's rights. But in practice, and when it comes to the rights of their wives, they act more traditionally than previous generations," another woman wrote. 
 
 A man wrote: "This woman's husband must have his own reasons. We shouldn't make one-sided judgements." 
 
 Sadr welcomes the ongoing debate. She said Ardalan should be praised for publicly speaking about her plight. "She broke the silence, and this could lead to other women taking the courage to detail and shed light on other similar cases," she said. 
 
 Ardalan has said that she will pursue the case through women's rights groups. 
 
 "Boys have the issue of military service [which prevents those who have not completed their compulsory service from traveling abroad]. A solution is found for them, and something should be done for women as well," she said in an interview with the daily sports newspaper Goal. 
 
 She added, "What is the difference between us?" 

 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The captain of the Iranian women's soccer team will miss the Asian Cup tournament as her husband has confiscated her passport in a domestic quarrel, local media has reported. 
 
 The dispute between 30-year-old midfielder Niloufar Ardalan and her husband, sports journalist Mahdi Toutounchi, touches on the rights of women in the Islamic Republic. Under Iranian law, husbands can stop their wives from traveling outside of the country. 
 
 News of Ardalan missing the tournament came Monday, when Iranian news website fararu.com reported that Ardalan wouldn't be traveling to Malaysia for the Asian Cup, which begins Thursday. Ardalan's husband reportedly wanted her to be home for their son's first day of school. 
 
 In an Instagram post Tuesday, Ardalan said foreign media was exaggerating her case, but also acknowledged she would be missing the tournament. She also made a call for Iran to change its laws governing married women's travel. 
 
 "I am only a national soldier who fights to raise flag of our country," she wrote. "I wish a law would be approved that allows female soldiers to fight for raising the flag." 
 
 The dilemma of Ardalan, known by the nickname "Lady Goal," has sparked social media chatter across Iran, with many demanding she be allowed to travel and play. 
 
 Women's sports largely disappeared after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Over time, however, they have gained popularity, especially soccer. Social customs still come into the game though, as the country's soccer team plays its games with players' hair covered by hijabs. 
 
 Two Islamic countries make the headscarf mandatory for women in public — Iran and Saudi Arabia. FIFA overturned a yearlong ban against players wearing hijabs in 2012.
– An Iranian women's soccer star is being forced to miss a tournament in Malaysia this week because her husband, an Iranian sports journalist, is refusing to sign paperwork to renew her passport, Yahoo Sports reports. Iranian law allows husbands to forbid their wives from traveling outside the country, according to the AP. "I am only a national soldier who fights to raise flag of our country," Niloufar Ardalan, known as "Lady Goal," wrote on Instagram yesterday. "I wish a law would be approved that allows female soldiers to fight for raising the flag." Ardalan's husband, Mahdi Toutounchi, is refusing to let her attend the tournament, which starts tomorrow, because he doesn't want her missing their son's first day of school. "This just shows to what extent this law can impact a woman's life," Iranian women's rights advocate Shadi Sadr told Radio Free Europe. "Even if a woman reaches the highest ranks in politics, sports, or culture, she still needs her husband's consent for one of her most basic rights—traveling abroad." While Ardalan claims foreign media is exaggerating her situation, she did call on Iran to change the law, according to the AP. "I wish authorities would create [measures] that would allow female athletes to defend their rights in such situations," Yahoo reports the midfielder telling an Iranian news agency. And she isn't alone, as many other Iranians sent message of support through social media.