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ZURICH: FIFA President Gianni Infantino says Iran has assured him female fans will “soon” be allowed into soccer stadiums after they were blocked from getting into a game he attended in Tehran.
Women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad on Wednesday called on women to attend Thursday’s match between Esteqlal and Persepolis because the most powerful man in world football would be there.
“The Fifa president will be in the stadium tomorrow (1 March),” she wrote. “I wish women would gather outside the stadium to ask men not to enter without them.”
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency cited the interior ministry as saying about 35 women were stopped from entering the Azadi Stadium and “were instructed to a proper place by police.”
Iran has barred women from attending football games since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. 
With Article 4 of FIFA statutes saying discrimination of any kind against gender is strictly prohibited, Infantino was criticized for attending a match that was limited to men only, but he opened a FIFA equality conference on Friday by claiming the trip could help “many women around the world.”
Infantino says “I hope, I am confident, I was promised that women in Iran will have access to football stadiums soon.”
He did not specify who made the pledge, while saying he was reluctant to be heard “criticizing anyone.”