- Title: Iranian women set to enter stadium for World Cup qualifier after lengthy ban
- Date: 9th October 2019
- Summary: MILAN, ITALY (SEPTEMBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIFA PRESIDENT, GIANNI INFANTINO, SAYING: "You have been certainly hearing or reading about the situation in Iran and we have been discussing over the last year so the Iranian authorities to allow the women to go to football games. There is women's football in Iran, you have football representatives here from Iran, and this is great. But we need Iranian women as well to be able to attend the men's games. We need to push for that, with respect, but in a strong and forceful way. We cannot wait anymore. We have been assured that as of the next international game of Iran, which is to be played on the 10th of October, women will be allowed to enter football stadiums. This is something very important. Since forty years this was not happening, with a couple of exceptions. But it is important to move to the next level and to the next stage with, of course, our thoughts to all the women of Iran, but also all the women around the world."
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2019 10:15
- Keywords: Iran Iranian soccer women stadium ban FIFA Infantino World Cup qualifier
- Location: TEHRAN, IRAN / MILAN, ITALY
- City: TEHRAN, IRAN / MILAN, ITALY
- Country: Iran
- Topics: Soccer,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA002B0DM3I7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: On match days, Iran's young female soccer fans either stay at home or cram Tehran's shopping centres and cafes to watch the national team's games on a large screen, but that will soon change.
After years of sneaking into stadiums disguised as men, women have finally been given approval to enter the national stadium to watch their country take on Cambodia at the World Cup qualifier on October 10.
While foreign women have been allowed limited access to matches, Iranian women have been banned from stadiums when men's teams have been playing since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution, sometimes at a high cost.
The death last month of a female fan who set herself on fire in protest at her arrest for attending a match has drawn international attention to women's exclusion.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced he had received assurances from the Iranians that women would finally be allowed into the stadiums, a message confirmed by a government spokesman.
But not everyone is happy. On Monday (October 7), religious conservatives called for the resignation of the country's sports minister following the move.
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