Persepolis (Victory) women's team, c.1970 - (Image: FootballDokht) "According to the IRNA information group; The history of women's football in Iran dates back to the 1940s, but only in 1970, Iranian women were allowed to practice and play football in private places. The first Iranian women's soccer team was established by the Taj Football Club, and for this purpose the Taj Club provided training classes for women. Following that, Persepolis and Dehim clubs formed their own women's team, and with the increase in the number of teams and the welcome of girls in this sport, the Iranian Football Federation also put the formation of the first Iranian women's national team on its agenda, and decided to send a group of talented women to FIFA training classes to train in football coaching. "Peri Abasalti, one of the founders of the Maiden and Women Association and the Women's Magazine, invited a selected team of Italian women soccer players to play a friendly match against the Taj Mahan's soccer team on May 6 [1971]. In this match, which was the first international game of Iranian women's football, the Taj team lost to its opponent with a score of 2:0. In this game, Janik Shahbazian, the goalkeeper of Taj, was the best player on the field and prevented her team from opening the gate many times." - (IRNA, 2019 / Archive) Taj v Italy women's match, 1971 - (IRNA) The Italian site Gli Eroi del Calcio also reports on the May 1971 games. They followed the 1970 World Cup in Italy, but with the team of the other federation, FFIGC: "Women's football in Iran was introduced in 1969 by Farvis Abutaleb, who had discovered it two years earlier on a trip to Japan. ... The idea had met with the approval of Queen Farah Diba, who had supported it as she believed that this sport could stimulate and support the emancipation of Iranian woman. "The Azzurra selection which left for Tehran was made up of sixteen players and was led by Avv. [Giovanni] Trabucco. Two matches were played, both at the Amjadieh stadium. In the first, which took place on 7 May, Italy won 2-0 thanks to the goals scored in the second half by [Stefania] Medri and Bertolo. Another victory for the Italians, this time 5-0 (scorers Nonni, Gerwien, scorer of a brace, Pesenti and Gualdi), in the match on 9 May." - (Gli Eroi del Calcio / Archive) Queen Farah Diba (Farah Pahlavi) - (img) Amjadieh Stadium - (img) FootballDokht tells more about these years in Iran, including the teams and coaches, 1970s media coverage, and the decline after 1979 when the government was overthrown. تاریخچه فوتبال زنان در ایران + عکس History of women's football in Iran + photos - (FootballDokht)"During these classes [in 1970], Iranian coaches were able to watch the women's soccer matches of Singapore, India and Korea, which were held at the FIFA classes. With the return of these coaches, the country's football leaders decided to form football teams to train talented women. Taj (now Esteghlal) was the first club to offer training classes for women." "The first women's competition after the revolution "13 years later [in 1993], women's football in Iran was somewhat revived with indoor or futsal competitions that were held for the first time at Al-Zahra University (formerly Farah), but in this year women only had the right to play in futsal and indoor competitions. After that, the national women's soccer team was re-formed and prepared for the tournament." - (FootballDokht, 2020) From there, Iran's women became one of the world's best futsal teams today. Reaching the women's football Asian Cup 2022 has been a major achievement and will hopefully inspire many more, but it all had a lineage of football pioneers decades ago. Taj v Italy, 1971 - (FootballDokht)
¯\_('.')_/¯ ... for a year it was in my bookmarks & before that, I can't remember. Either it involved Persian Google, or checking that football site for "who's won the title this year" and stumbling on Farsi and Italian newspapers from 1971, you know how it is.