Governing body FIFA has pressed for allowing women in international qualifiers.© AFP
According to the body’s general secretary, the Iranian Football Federation has requested parliament to adopt a law that would lift the ban on women participating in matches in stadiums. “A bill has been proposed in the Islamic National Assembly by the Iranian Football Federation. Once it is approved, the presence of women will be allowed,” Hassan Kamrani Farr was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
Iran’s parliament is largely dominated by conservative and religious dignitaries who live in opposition to the women attending the matches.
Women were forbidden from entering stadiums after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, officially to protect them from inappropriate male behavior, but in recent times exceptions have been made for international games.
World football’s governing body FIFA has pushed for women to be allowed in international qualifiers.
The women were able to watch a game at the 80,000-seat Azadi Stadium in October 2019, when Iran beat Cambodia 14-0.
publicized
State television-linked Young Journalists’ Club reported before that game that Iranian women were allowed to watch the national team in the World Cup 2022 qualifiers against South Korea earlier this month.
The match went on behind closed doors.
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