AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Iran’s ambassador says FIFA’s headscarf ban affecting the Iran women’s team is “inhumane” and “politically motivated.”
It is the first public Iranian comment since the team forfeited a 2012 Olympic qualifier against Jordan last Friday because it wouldn’t play without the headscarves.
FIFA says the ban on the Islamic scarf covering a women’s neck is for safety reasons.
Mustafa Musleh Zadeh says Iran will complain to the Asian Football Federation. He called FIFA’s ban “extremism,” similar to Afghanistan’s Taliban restrictions on women in sports.
