Banned for wearing the "hijab"

As if FIFA did not have enough problems, now comes word that Iranian soccer officials plan to lodge a protest against a FIFA official who prohibited Iran’s women’s national team from taking the field in an Olympic qualifying match because the players were wearing the traditional Muslim head cover, the hijab.

“We will file a complaint to FIFA against the official in charge of the matches,” Ali Kafashian, the head of Iran’s football federation, told the student news agency ISNA. “We have already held talks with the president of the International Federation of Association Football about the participation of Iranian women in matches with full Islamic hijab. Unfortunately, however, I do not know why the official in charge of the matches refused to let our team play.”

There was no mention of the incident on FIFA’s Web site. In April, FIFA barred Iran’s women’s team because of its insistence on wearing headscarves, as all women in Iran’s Islamic Republic are required to do. But FIFA has also held negotiations recently in a bid to assuage Iran’s concerns.

The match in Jordan, a qualifier for next summer’s London Olympics, ended before it started when the FIFA official, who is from Bahrain, according to Iranian news reports, refused to allow the match to proceed. Jordan was awarded a 3-0 victory. The mention of the Bahraini official comes in light of the current unrest in Bahrain, a country with a Shiite majority that is ruled by Sunnis.

“Although it has been said in FIFA’s regulations that no country can play with Islamic dress, we had necessary negotiations with FIFA officials,” Kafashian said. “Unfortunately, I do not know why the Bahraini official in charge of the matches refused to let our team play.”

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/iran-protests-hajib-ban/