Offside

A girl disguises herself as a boy to travel with male fans to the Iran-Bahrain World Cup qualifier. She rides a bus with the group toward Azadi Stadium, blending in with the crowd. Some fans notice her gender but keep quiet to avoid trouble.

At the stadium, she persuades a ticket tout to sell her entry, but only at an inflated price. The demand and risk of getting caught push the price higher. She finally secures entry through boldness and necessity.

She is spotted attempting to slip through security and is arrested along with several other women. They are confined in a holding pen on the stadium roof, a cramped area with a window that barely shows the match. The women endure the wait while the game unfolds outside.

The women are guarded by bored soldiers doing their national service. One is an Azeri boy from Tabriz who longs to return to his farm. They are more concerned about keeping order for fear of their chief than about the women's attendance.

A younger girl needs a toilet and a soldier escorts her to the men's facilities. He uses a poster to disguise her face and ejects men to clear a path, then blocks entry to maintain control. In the chaos, the girl slips back into the stadium.

After the distraction, the girl returns to the holding pen, worried that the Tabriz soldier might get into trouble. The group passes the remainder of the half in tense, quiet anticipation as the match continues outside.

Midway through the second half, the women—plus a boy arrested for carrying fireworks—are bundled onto a bus. The soldiers commandeer the vehicle and drive toward the Vice Squad headquarters, cutting them off from the stadium.

As the match concludes, the Azeri boy from Tabriz plays the radio commentary. Iran defeats Bahrain 1-0 with Nosrati scoring just after halftime, triggering wild celebrations inside the bus as the women and soldiers cheer and sing together.

The girl explains she is not really interested in football; she attended to honor a friend killed in a scuffle during Iran–Japan. She wanted to witness the match in his memory, revealing a personal motive behind her disguise.

The city explodes with festivity as the bus becomes stuck in a traffic jam. A spontaneous street party forms, and the mood shifts from tension to celebration as people flood the streets.

Borrowing seven sparklers from a boy with fireworks, the women and the soldiers step off the bus and join the street party, holding the sparklers above their heads as they walk.

The film was shot at an actual stadium during a qualifying match and Panahi had two separate outcomes depending on the turnout. This production choice foregrounds the uncertainty and mirrors the film's themes about spectatorship and fate.