Iranian officials are protesting a FIFA decision last week to ban the national women’s football team from playing Jordan in an Olympic qualifier due to their hijabs, arguing that a permanent ban will have far-reaching effects for female Muslim athletes who wear headscarves.
Headscarves have been banned since 2007 because of both rules against religious symbols and safety concerns that say the scarves, which cover players’ necks, present a choking risk.
But Farideh Shojae, head of women’s affairs at the Iranian Football Federation, or FFIRI, said the team’s specially designed athletic headscarves are in line with FIFA policy.
“We made the required corrections and played a match afterwards,” she said. “We played the next round and were not prevented from doing so, and they didn’t find anything wrong. That meant that there are no obstacles in our path, and that we could participate in the Olympics.”
FIFA said Iranian officials were “informed thoroughly” before Friday’s match that the headscarf is banned. The sport’s governing body awarded Jordan a 3-0 victory.
“Despite initial assurances the Iranian delegation understood this, the players came out wearing the hijab, which was an infringement of the laws of the game,” FIFA said in a statement.
The team’s 3-0 loss effectively ends the team’s Olympic ambitions.
“I think [qualifying for the Olympics] is unlikely because the preliminary games will not be repeated,” Shoejae said. “The countries that invested and spent money and time and took part in the second round will clearly not be willing to repeat these games.”
Shahrzah Mozafar, the team’s former head coach, predicted that a ban on headscarves would cause Iran to stop sending the team overseas to compete.
“This ruling means women’s soccer in Iran is over,” she said.