FIFA President Sepp Blatter calls on Iran to allow women into stadiums

Chasing votes in his bid for re-election at President of world football governing body FIFA, Sepp Blatter has called on Iran to end its ban on women watching football matches.

Describing the situation as intolerable, Blatter recently wrote in FIFA's weekly magazine "when I travelled to Iran in November 2013, I was not only confronted with huge popular enthusiasm from footballbut also a law forbidding women from attending football matches.

"I raised the topic at my meeting with the President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, and came away with the impression that this intolerable situation could change over the medium term.

"However, nothing has happened. A collective ‘stadium ban’ still applies to women in Iran, despite the existence of a thriving women's football organisation.

"This cannot continue. Hence, my appeal to the Iranian authorities; open the nation's football stadiums to women."

During the 2015 AFC Asian Cup earlier this year, Iran's support included thousands of women who were able to attend games at Australian stadiums, without any dress restrictions.

Their female supporters (pictured below) also become a big hit with local media, prompting the Iranian authorities to remind the players to be wary of posing for photographs that may be posted on social media.

Iran unsuccessfully bid against the United Arab Emirates to host the 2019 Asian Cup with the ban on women believed to have damaged their attempt to stage the tournament.

Blatter has also criticised the continental confederations for failing to elect any women onto the FIFA's executive committee.

The committee includes three women, one with voting rights and two co-opted, but they are elected directly by theFIFA Congress following a change to the statutes in 2011.

Blatter told an event at FIFA headquarters in Switzerland, "this was hard work because the members of FIFA's executive committee are elected by the national associations in their (continental) Congresses and...there was never, never a proposal for a woman to be finally in FIFA.

"We had to take the decision, and I did it in 2011 at the end of the Congress, I said we must have at least one woman on the executive committee," he said.

"In all the confederations, there is no woman...this macho sport, and that's a pity, we should change in the future."

12th March 2015 - UAE TO HOST 2019 AFC ASIAN CUP

25th January 2015 - AFC OFFICIAL ‘HAPPY’ TO BAR WOMEN SPECTATORS FROM STADIA

5th November 2014 - BRITISH-IRANIAN WOMAN JAILED FOR A YEAR FOR TRYING TO ENTER A SPORTS ARENA

20th September 2014 - WOMEN’S RIGHT TO ATTEND SPORTS EVENTS AT CENTRE OF IRAN’S CULTURE WARS

1st June 2013 - MOYA DODD LOSES FIFA ELECTION BUT GETS CO-OPTED TO ITS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE