Iranian women set to be allowed in national stadium to watch football matches for the first time since 1979

macfranc007 March 03, 2018 IFTTT, Latest Sport News | Today on Naija.ng Oluwatomiwa Babalola

- FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed that the ban on women football fans at match venues in Iran will soon be lifted

- Over 35 women were barred from making it into the stadium to watch their favourites team play in Tehran on Thursday

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has revealed that women football fans in Iran will soon be allowed into the stadium to watch matches.

The world football governing body boss made this known after about 35 women were barred from watching the game between between Esteqlal and Persepolis at the Azadi Stadium on Thursday in Tehran, as they "were instructed to a proper place by police."

And the 47-year-old is confident the Arabian country is close to ending the 1979 Revolution to give everybody equal chance to watch their teams play.

But Infantino opened the FIFA Conference for Equality and Inclusion on Friday by saying he hoped his trip could help "many women around the world" to be allowed to watch football matches.

"I hope, I am confident, I was promised that women in Iran will have access to football stadiums soon," he said.

However, Infantino did not specify who had made the pledge and said he was reluctant to be heard to be "criticising anyone."

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, speaking in 2015, said he had raised the issue two years beforehand "and came away with the impression that this intolerable situation could change over the medium term ... however, nothing happened."

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Infantino became the president of the global football body in February 2016, beating Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Sheik. Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, and Jérôme Champagne to succeed Sepp Blatter.

He started out at Uefa in 2000 but grew through the ranks to become the secretary general in 2009, where he served until 2016 when he was elected the head of Fifa.

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