FIFA Secretary General to Meet Members of Campaign for Iranian Women's Presence in Stadiums

Fatemeh Samoura, the Secretary General of FIFA, is set to meet with members of the campaign for Iranian women's presence in stadiums ahead of the return leg of the AFC Champions League final. According to the Associated Press, Samoura stated on Wednesday that this meeting will take place on Thursday, November 8, in Zurich, Switzerland, with activists from Azadi Stadium, whose petition has garnered 200,000 signatures. Despite widespread protests in Iran and on social media, women are still not allowed to attend stadiums. Earlier this year, 18 prominent Iranian women wrote a letter to FIFA officials asking the global football federation to 'request the Islamic Republic to completely end the ban on women's presence in stadiums.' In their letter to FIFA, the prohibition of women's attendance at sports stadiums was described as a 'violation of one of the fundamental principles' of the International Football Federation, which emphasizes non-discrimination and combating it. The 78,000-capacity Azadi Stadium will host the return match of Persepolis, which needs to overcome its 2-0 defeat against Kashima in Japan to win the AFC Champions League. This is the first AFC Champions League final to be held in Iran after 11 years. Gianni Infantino, FIFA's president, visited Iran in March this year to emphasize in a meeting with Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic's president, that the Iranian government must allow women to attend stadiums. However, the Islamic Republic government has obstructed this. Fatemeh Samoura, who is FIFA's first female Secretary General, stated: 'This issue is at the top of FIFA's human rights agenda, and discussions will continue.' In recent years, there have been many efforts by women's rights activists and other civil society groups for unrestricted women's presence in stadiums, including football stadiums. Some officials from Hassan Rouhani's government, such as Masoumeh Ebtekar and Shahindokht Molaverdi, have also made efforts in this regard. Masoumeh Ebtekar, the Iranian Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, announced that women will be present in Azadi Stadium to watch the AFC Champions League final. On Tuesday, she emphasized in response to a question from an ISNA reporter about the possibility of Iranian women attending alongside Japanese women to watch the match between Persepolis and Kashima: 'Certainly, Iranian women will be present in the stadium for this match.' Before her, Mohammad Reza Davarzani, the Deputy for Professional and Championship Sports at the Ministry of Sports and Youth, described women's presence in Azadi Stadium as one of FIFA's conditions and requirements for the AFC Champions League, stating that 'this requirement is not limited to the presence of Japanese women.' Previously, Mehdi Taj, the head of the Iranian Football Federation, had linked women's presence in football stadiums to the provision of facilities and infrastructure in the stadiums. The first presence of women in Azadi Stadium in Tehran dates back to the nights of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where a number of women were able to watch Iran's national football team's matches in that competition. Subsequently, in October of this year, a limited number of women, including female footballers and futsal players from the Iranian women's team, female sports journalists, and families of national football team players, were able to watch a friendly match between the Iranian national football team and Bolivia up close. Massoud Soltani Far, the Minister of Sports and Youth, expressed hope on Tuesday that the Tehran Security Council would agree to allow women to attend the stadium during the Persepolis and Kashima Antlers match. However, that selective and limited experience of women's presence at the Iran-Bolivia match also faced controversies and reactions, with Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General, stating: 'When a woman goes to the stadium and encounters men in sportswear and half-naked, sin occurs.' He also threatened that if these actions continue, those responsible would face legal consequences. The Attorney General's remarks were met with reactions from other officials, including Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who believed that watching a football match in the stadium is 'not religiously problematic' and that, contrary to the Attorney General's depiction, male footballers are 'not half-naked.' The reactions of social media users to Mohammad Jafar Montazeri's statements were also widespread and notable. On the other hand, a representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also criticized the permission for women's presence in the stadium. The criticism of this selective and limited presence of women in the stadium also reached Shiite clerics, with Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani criticizing the matter and not considering it a source of pride. Previously, Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, a Shiite cleric in Qom, had stated in response to an inquiry that 'the atmosphere in stadiums is not suitable for women's presence. Moreover, in some types of sports, men do not have appropriate coverage in front of women. Therefore, it is necessary to refrain from attending these events, especially since they can watch these events on media, and their presence is not essential.' The Iranian Volleyball Federation has faced similar issues in recent years, where after threats from the International Volleyball Federation regarding Iran's ban from hosting World League competitions, Iranian sports officials were forced to allow a select and limited number of women to enter the 12,000-capacity Azadi Sports Complex to watch the Iranian national volleyball team's matches up close.