International Football
IRAN SET TO LIFT BAN ON FEMALE FOOTBALL FANS
BY DAN PALMER
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the world governing body have been “assured” by Iran that it will end its ban on women attending football matches.
The 49-year-old Swiss demanded that the country change its stance earlier this month and said FIFA were “expecting positive developments” before the Iranian men’s World Cup qualifier with Cambodia next month.
He has now reported supposed good news after speaking at a conference in Milan which analysed this year’s Women’s World Cup in France.
“We need to have women attending,” Infantino, who was re-elected unopposed as President in June, said.
“We have been assured that as of the next international game of Iran, women will be allowed to enter football stadiums.
“This is something very important.
“In 40 years this has not happened, with a couple of exceptions.”
Iran’s clash with Cambodia is due to take place on October 10 at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium.
Infantino had stopped short of threatening to suspend Iran if it did not reverse its rule, a move human rights groups have called for after the country failed to show any improvement on its stance towards female supporters.
The situation took a tragic twist earlier this month when Iranian fan Sahar Khodayari committed suicide by setting herself on fire.
Twenty-nine-year-old Khodayari was arrested in March after disguising herself as a man and trying to sneak into a match between Iranian team Esteghlal and Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates at Azadi Stadium.
She was released pending a legal case but, upon returning to Ershad Courthouse to collect her phone on September 2, Khodayari learned that she could be tried by a revolutionary court and put in prison for six months.
Iranian news website Rokna reported that she set herself on fire in protest and later died from her injurie
Minky Worden, a director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, has previously criticised FIFA for a “long delay” in bringing about change.
Infantino had previously given the Iranian Football Federation a July 15 deadline to allow women to buy tickets, which was missed.
The country did briefly relax its rules last year, allowing 100 women to watch Iran’s friendly with Bolivia.
Another 500 watched the Asian Champions League final match in Tehran between Persepolis and Japan’s Kashima Antlers the following month, which Infantino attended, but several women were then arrested in June after putting on fake beards and wigs to attend Iran’s friendly against Syria.
FIFA were also criticised when two fans were removed from the Women’s World Cup match between Canada and New Zealand in France on June 15, having entered the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble wearing shirts that called for Iranian women to be let into stadiums.
They later performed a U-turn, admitting that the message was social and not political and therefore not breaching any rules.
Women in Iran also struggle to attend volleyball games, with a blanket ban on attendance issued in 2012.
The rules became more moderate in June 2017, with Iranian authorities allowing only a limited number of pre-vetted women to attend games.
Iran is also facing international pressure in judo.
Earlier this month, the International Judo Federation suspended the country over its anti-Israel stance.
It came amid allegations that Saeid Mollaei was placed under pressure at the World Championships to avoid facing an Israeli athlete.
Mollaei said threats had been made against himself and his family.
– insidethegames
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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