Iran has assured FIFA that it will allow women to attend a World Cup qualifying match in Tehran next month, according to the world football governing body’s president Gianni Infantino.
The move comes after Infantino had earlier in the week asked the country to lift a ban on women attending football games.
The FIFA chief said in a statement that FIFA’s position is “clear and firm” and that women “have to be allowed” into football stadiums in the country.
The call came following the death of a female football fan who set herself on fire after being denied entry into a stadium.
The ban has been in place since 1979.
“We have been assured that, as of the next international game of Iran, women will be allowed to enter football stadiums,” Infantino told a FIFA conference on women’s football on Sunday.
“This is something very important, it is 40 years that this has not happened, with a couple of exceptions, but it is important to move to the next level and to the next stage,” he added.
Ahead of the game against Cambodia in October, FIFA officials have been in Iran to discuss the preparations of the clash.
The body said on Saturday that the visit had shown “no noteworthy operational obstacles” in the quest to have the ban lifted.
FIFA also said it would work with Iranian football authorities to pave the way for women to attend domestic league games as well.
