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Iran to complain to FIFA over hijab ban

04 June 2011 21:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iran will file a complaint against the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) official, who banned the country’s women football team from playing in an Olympics qualifier match, over their hijab, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

According to the report, on Friday, a FIFA official banned the Iranian women’s national soccer team from playing against Jordan in the second round of the qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympic Games in the Jordanian capital city, Amman, due to their hijab cover.

Hijab refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general.

"We have already held talks with the president of the FIFA about the participation of Iranian women in matches with full Islamic hijab," the Iranian Football Federation Chief, Ali Kaffashian, was quoted as saying on Saturday.

"Unfortunately, however, I do not know why the official in charge of the matches refused to let our team play," said Kaffashian.

"Therefore, we will file a complaint to FIFA against the official in charge of the games," he said according to the report.

Jordan was announced to have won 3-0 after the Iranian team refused to remove their hijab, said the report.