The announcement comes the same month that a female Iranian
soccer fan set herself on fire, after learning that she could be imprisoned for
six months because she entered a stadium to watch a match
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| Gianni Infantino FIFA president |
World football governing body FIFA has announced that Women
in Iran will be able to attend football matches, starting with a World Cup
qualifier next month between Iran and Cambodia.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a conference on
Sunday that Iranian officials assured FIFA that “women will be allowed to enter
football stadiums,” . “This is something very important, in 40 years this has
not happened, with a couple of exceptions.”
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Iranian female football fan
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The announcement comes the same month that a female Iranian
soccer fan set herself on fire, after learning that she could be imprisoned for
six months because she entered a stadium to watch a match. Sahar Khodayari,
29, was detained by police after an altercation and released after three nights
in jail, pending her court case, the AP reported. Her self-immolation prompted
international condemnation, with human rights organizations calling Iran’s
policy on gender in soccer stadiums a “discriminatory ban.”
Masoud Shojaei, the captain of the Iran men's football team,
condemned the prison sentence in a Persian-language post on Instagram.
"Without a doubt the self-immolation the girl after the
extension of her custody on the charge of trying to enter a stadium to watch
football is rooted in outdated and cringe-worthy thoughts that will not be
understood by future generations," he wrote.
Although Iranian women have been banned from watching men's
teams play, foreign women have been allowed limited access to stadiums in order
to watch these matches.
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