KUALA LUMPUR: Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has said that Iranian women should be allowed to attend men’s World Cup qualifiers in the Islamic Republic later this year.

Iranian women have long been barred from watching men’s teams play. This rule will allow hundreds of women to watch the Asian Champions League final organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The AFC, the Asian football governing body which has 47 members that include Iran, said it was working to help world soccer governing body FIFA find an “amicable solution” that would allow them to attend future games.

“Everybody needs to be catered, it’s an inclusive game. Women play the game in Iran, men play the game, so everybody should be able to watch,” AFC general secretary Windsor John said

“For us at the end of the day we respect the local law, but we also want to promote the game,” he said at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Female football fans have long campaigned for the ban, imposed under Iran’s Islamic law after the 1979 revolution, to be lifted.

(Agencies)