The FIFA World Cup 2022 will be taking place in Qatar. While Iran will be one of the participants, FIFA has been urged to ban the nation for prohibiting women inside the venues.
It will be a global football spectacle when the 2022 FIFA World Cup is held in Qatar in November-December. As usual, 32 teams will be taking part from across continents, while Iran will be one of the participants representing Asia. However, some have called for a ban on Iran in the tournament.
On Friday, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) received calls to ban Iran from the FIFA World Cup 2022 after the nation failed to introduce the new law of allowing women inside the venues to watch football matches. As per reports, around 2,000 Iranian women who had owned tickets to watch Iran's World Cup qualifier against Lebanon last Tuesday were not allowed to enter the stadium. Also, the authorities were accused of using pepper spray over the protesting women outside the venue.
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The United for Navid group has demanded that Iran should be banned from international football unless the law regarding women is changed. "We formally request that FIFA immediately suspend Iran and prohibit its participation in the World Cup 2022 as long as the Football Federation of Iran continues to violate the Olympic Charter and FIFA regulations. But, not only has Iran broken that promise by continuing to bar women from entering a stadium but women are beaten, abused and threatened," a letter addressed to Mattias Grafstrom (FIFA deputy secretary-general) from the group read, reports AFP.
Besides United for Navid, Human Rights Watch and a New York-based NGO have also requested the same to FIFA for a long time. "Given the Iranian authorities' longstanding violations, FIFA needs to follow its global guidelines on nondiscrimination and should consider enforcing penalties for Iran's noncompliance," said HRW's Tara Sepehri Far.
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Iran president Ebrahim Raisi has requested an investigation to be launched into the incident of Iranian women being barred from entering the stadium. However, in January, the Iranian women were allowed to enter the venues for the first time in three years. Meanwhile, in January, a FIFA spokesperson told AFP, "FIFA expects this to continue, as there can be no turning back."
