On April 5, a day before the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) election, Iranian women filed an unprecedented FIFA ethics complaint against Iran's Football Federation president Mehdi Taj for his role in presiding over their exclusion from stadiums for years. The next day he was elevated to AFC vice president.

The ban puts women and girls in danger as they take risks to protest and to attend soccer games dressed as men. Female photographers have to take extreme measures such as scaling rooftops outside the stadiums , to carry out their work. Women who are caught entering the stadiums disguised as men to see or photograph the matches risk being beaten or jailed.

FIFA has said clearly in its second Human Rights Advisory Board report that the stadium ban for women violates FIFA’s statutes, which say such discrimination is “punishable by suspension or expulsion”.

In addition to Iran, AFC football leaders from Afghanistan (facing physical and sexual abuse charges) and Bahrain are bound by the FIFA code of ethics, the FIFA statutes and the FIFA human rights policy. FIFA has made admirable progress in implementing its new policy , and could even raise the bar for other sports federations.

But FIFA’s reform efforts risk derailment if the sport’s leaders in Asia refuse to uphold the new global standards.

As the FIFA Women's World Cup approaches in June, please continue to share this #NoBan4Women petition to let FIFA and the AFC know that they must stop discrimination against women. 

Thank you for your support!