Iran ‘assures’ FIFA it will allow women to attend men’s football matches
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iran has told FIFA that it will permit women to attend an upcoming World Cup qualifying football match next month.
The announcement comes after criticism targeting Tehran following the death of a female football fan who killed herself after she was denied access to watch a men’s football game.
FIFA, world football’s governing body, has called on Iran to lift the 40-year ban on females attending games.
“We need to have women attending—we need to push for that with respect but in a strong and forceful way, and we cannot wait anymore,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino told reporters at a press conference on Sunday.
According to Infantino, Iran had “assured” FIFA that it would allow women to enter football stadiums “as of the next international game.”
Iran plays Cambodia on Oct. 10 at home in the second match of its 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.
“This is something very important; it is 40 years that this has not happened, with a couple of exceptions, but it is important to move to the next level and to the next stage,” Infantino said.
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Since 1979, the ultra-conservative Iranian regime has prevented females from attending male football matches.
In October 2018, Tehran said it would reimpose the ban on women attending live football matches prompting FIFA to call on Iran to end the practice or face strict, and more explicit sanctions.
