Asal Heydari is making history after signing with Hammarby IF. When she steps on the ice, Heydari will become the first ever Iranian woman to play in a league outside Iran.
Asal Heydari is making history after signing with Hammarby IF. When she steps on the ice, Heydari will become the first ever Iranian woman to play in a league outside Iran.
Asal Heydari has made history for women's hockey in Iran. Heydari has signed with Hammarby IF in Sweden's Nationella Damhockeyligan (NDHL), becoming the first ever Iranian woman to play in a league outside of Iran.
Heydari, 31, began playing inline hockey and started her ice hockey career in 2009. Last season, Heydari played for Farmanieh HC in Iran, and won a silver medal with Iran's women's national team at the IIHF Women’s Asia and Oceania Championship.
At the IIHF Women’s Asia and Oceania Championship Heydari scored 12 goals and 14 points in six games for Iran.
Hammarby IF's 2022-2023 roster included Linnea Holterud Olsson, Norway's starting goaltender at the recent Division 1A World Championships, and Iceland's national team captain Silvia Bjorgvinsdottir. The team's leading scorer was 22-year-old Estelle Forsberg, who twice represented Sweden's U-18 national team.
Iran only formed their first women's hockey team in 2020, and the 2023 Women’s Asia and Oceania Championship was Iran's first IIHF event.