Ministry of Sports: We did not allow female footballers to wear this type of clothing

In response to criticism of the type of clothing worn by Iranian female soccer players, the Deputy Minister of Sports of Iran has said that the Ministry of Sports has not authorized this clothing and, according to the circular, coats, trousers, and a turban are the "official clothing" of Iranian female athletes.

Mahin Farhadizad told Fars News Agency on Sunday, September 19, that the vice president of the Football Federation "maybe due to personal concerns, he transferred his responsibility to another department, which has created these ambiguities."

Ms. Farhadizad also added that the federation has been given a "necessary warning" regarding the clothing worn by female footballers.

The sending of the Iranian women's national football team, which had dropped out of the world rankings after a two-year absence from competitions and has returned to the FIFA rankings this year, has been accompanied by some controversy regarding the clothing of the team members.

In images released from the team's dispatch to the Asian Championship qualifiers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Wednesday, September 14, Iranian female athletes were seen wearing dark women's suits.

In response to the team members' attire, Fars News Agency on Saturday called the team members' attire "masculine" and "a combination of bad taste and disregard for societal norms." It called the Football Federation's move to design such attire "unprecedented" and called for "immediate correction" and "investigation of this issue by the relevant institutions."

Ahmad Rastineh, head of the Physical Education Committee of the Parliament's Cultural Commission, has also said that "the issue of designing the women's football team's uniforms cannot be justified or ignored, and the federation must be held accountable."

Source: Radio Farda