FIFA chief Infantino welcomes the presence of female fans at the Iranian cup match

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has welcomed the presence of women and girls at a Hazfi Cup football match in the Iranian city of Mashhad on Sunday as an «encouraging development».

With few exceptions, female fans have been banned from sporting events in the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution, and FIFA has faced calls to ban the men’s team from the 2022 World Cup over the issue.

Infantino has favored a policy of personal engagement with the country’s leaders and called access to the Imam Reza Stadium for some women and girls a new step forward.

“I was very happy to hear about the attendance of women and girls at an Iranian Hazfi Cup match between Nassaji Mazandaran and Shahid Ghandi Yazd,” he said in a social media post on Monday.

“This is an encouraging development after last December’s top Iranian match … in Isfahan, where 45,000 women and girls attended, and the 2023 Tehran Derby, when 3,000 women and girls were in the stadium,” he added.

Open Stadiums, the women’s rights campaign group that led the call for Iran to be excluded from the last World Cup, said only a limited number of female fans would be allowed into Sunday’s match between the two lower league clubs.

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The group also noted that the match took place in the same stadium where Human Rights Watch reported that dozens of women were forcibly prevented from watching a 2022 World Cup qualifier between Iran and Lebanon.

Last year’s top match between Sepahan and Persepolis in Isfahan was played in front of an all-women and girls crowd.

The Iranian Football Association’s order to ban male fans came after a Sepahan cheerleader led insulting chants about female Persepolis fans during an earlier clash between the clubs at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in May 2024.

Infantino said he hoped to see more progress in opening football matches to everyone in Iran and other parts of the world where access is restricted.

“FIFA’s vision is to make football available to everyone in all parts of the world, because our game belongs to everyone who wants to experience it,” he said.

“As we continue our dialogue and efforts with relevant authorities around the world to make football even more global, I hope that these developments will continue in a positive direction,” he added.

Iran has already qualified for next year’s World Cup in North America

Published on November 4, 2025