FIFA deadline for Iran, to allow females in the stadiums starting with FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying matches has expired today, and now the Iranian Football Association is forced to allow families and ladies into the stadiums while hosting Team Melli matches.
In other word, the promise given by President Hassan Rouhani to the FIFA president Infantino needs to be implemented else Iranian football will possibly be sanctioned.
12 days after Iran and Syria’s friendly match at Azadi Stadium, Gianni Infantino, in a letter to the Iranian Football Federation, praised the presence of women in that match, requesting that the process be continued, and the ban on the presence of women in Iranian stadiums fully lifted. In this letter, a deadline for Iran’s football was set on the 15th of July, after which women would be free to attend all stadiums hosting all football matches at national and international levels.
This did not occur last time Team Melli played against the Omid team, but in any case, that match was played behind closed doors and was off-limits to the public in Azadi.
The FIFA president mentioned in the letter that Iran’s football should take a lesson from the recent Women’s World Cup in France and free up the presence of families at Iranian stadiums. Infantino has pointed out that FIFA is aware of the cultural challenges and simply wants to make progress in this regard, not only because of the progress of women in the world, but also as a matter of fact, and is one of the fundamental principles of the FIFA Constitution.
On Monday, Mahdi Taj stated that the response letter was sent to FIFA and the federation is allowing women in the national team home games in the 2022 World Cup.
With the end of the FIFA deadline, a big challenge is brewing for the football executives because, despite the promises of authorities in the past, there has not been a definite step in the preparation of women’s presence in the stadium, which still has a lot of legal prohibitions and sensitivities.
The problem, of course, is not the FFIRI which is quite content to allow women in the stadium, but the religious fundamentalist who are determined to force their extremist ideas on the population.
