FIFA President Gianni Infantino has offered “heartfelt gratitude” to Iranian authorities for allowing tens of thousands of female fans to attend a top-flight soccer match between Sepahan against Persepolis this week.

After calls for Iran to be banned from the 2022 World Cup because of the continued exclusion of women from football matches in the Islamic Republic, Infantino adopted a policy of personal engagement with the country’s leadership.

Monday’s Pro League clash at Isfahan’s Naqsh-e Jahan Stadium, which home team Sepahan won 2-1, was played in front of a crowd made up exclusively of women and girls.

That decision came after a Sepahan cheerleader led insulting chants about female Persepolis fans at a previous clash between the clubs at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in May.

The Iranian Football Federation fined both clubs and ordered that their next two meetings be played in front of only female fans.

In comments posted by FIFA on social media on Thursday, Infantino said he was “very pleased” that some 45,000 women and girls had been allowed to attend the latest edition of one of Iran’s fiercest club rivalries.

“FIFA has been in constant contact with authorities in IR Iran for several years regarding women and girls having the possibility to attend football matches,” the Swiss said.

“After last year’s Tehran derby between Persepolis and Esteghlal where 3,000 women and girls were in attendance, this latest development comes as a glowing representation of how our game is inclusive and open for everyone to enjoy.

“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all concerned who made this possible … and I look forward to seeing even more women and girls having the opportunity to regularly attend football matches in the future.”

Open Stadiums, the women’s rights campaign group that led the calls for Iran to be excluded from the World Cup, said the women fans had turned the stadium “into a symbol of defiance”.

“Women’s access to stadium capacities remains very limited,” it said in a social media post after the match.

“Today, as a punishment for male fans, Iran’s FA allowed only women to attend, and Sepahan Stadium was nearly full. The road to equal and normal access to stadiums for Iranians still requires significant attention.”

Infantino said he would continue his engagement strategy on a visit to Iran in the near future.

“It is my intention to visit Iran soon to further discuss football-related matters, as the country is a significant force in Asian football, and it is important that we continue to nurture the positive and fruitful working relationship we have built,” he said

-Reuters

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Former Brazil striker Ronaldo will run for the presidency of the country’s football confederation (CBF), the 48-year-old said on Monday.

Ronaldo, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 and 2002, will run as a candidate in the CBF elections to replace current president Ednaldo Rodrigues in 2026.

“Among hundreds of things that motivate me to become a candidate for president of the CBF, I want to recover this prestige and respect that the Selecao (Brazil’s national team) always had and today nobody else has,” he told Globo Esporte.

The former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid forward currently also said he expects to sell his stake in Spanish top-flight side Real Valladolid.

“We’re negotiating a possible sale very soon and we should close the deal. It won’t be an obstacle to my candidacy,” he added.

Ronaldo previously owned a 90% stake in Brazilian team Cruzeiro, which he sold earlier this year.

-Reuters

On the sidelines of the CAF Awards holding in Marrakech on Monday, the Executive Committee of CAF will meet to discuss the already choked 2025 football calendar.

The board will also hold meetings with the presidents of the 54 national football federations.

Owing to the already congested international calendar that has necessitated the Africa Cup of Nations holding for the first time in December and spilling over to the following year, the qualification series for the 2027 edition could be discussed.

Already with the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup pushed to 2025 as a result of the football event of the Paris 2024, the draw for the 2026 edition has been made even with the final tournament of the preceding edition yet to be played.

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