FIFA Panel Decides Iran’s Ban of Female Supporters Violates Ethics Code

Since 1981, Iranian law have prohibited female supporters from attending male sports events by preventing women from entering the event stadiums. As of late FIFA’s internal human rights advisory panel have applied pressure to football’s governing body, urging for the delivery of a deadline to Iran, to effectively allow women back into event stadiums to attend football matches.

In a recently published report, the panel stated it found the Iranian than on female supporters were in violation of FIFA’s internal ethics code. The code is quite specific about the prohibition of discrimination, particularly on a gender basis.

Iranian girls and women are subject to a blanket ban from entering sports stadiums when and where male sporting events took place, with the ban remaining in place for the greater part of the 39 years elapsed since the country’s Islamic revolution. Since 1981, women have been refused access to all matches involving the country’s top clubs.

However, since November 2018, a number of Iran’s news agencies reported an undetermined number of local women received approval to attend one of the final matches in the Asian Champions League. Specifically, the match between local side Persepolis and the Japanese Kashima Antlers club played at Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

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In addition, the FIFA panel, which comprises of eight independent experts selected from the trade unions, United Nations, as well as FIFA sponsors, stated Iranian women attended two of Iran’s World Cup matches at this same venue.

The panel described it as a positive development but rightfully added these ad hoc decisions obviously did not indicate a formal end to this ban. It also stated FIFA is to be completely explicit regarding the timeframe by when it would expect Iran to align itself with the governing body’s human rights beliefs and expectations.

It noted potential sanctions if Iran fails to fall in line with its demands. FIFA statutes clearly define discrimination may be punished by either suspension or expulsion. However, its disciplinary code does allow for the application of lighter sanctions including partial stadium closures or fines.

In addition, the panel recommended FIFA provide more detail regarding decisions made by its ethics committee, having banned numerous football officials over the past few years including Sepp Blatter, former president of FIFA.