The ethics committee of the Iranian Football Federation has summoned an international player who hugged a female fan before a national championship match, the Tasnim news agency reported on Friday.
Ramin Rezaeian, who plays for Esteghlal FC, was summoned after hugging a fan before Thursday’s match against Chadormalu in the central province of Yazd, she said. The football federation has not yet commented on the matter. The 34-year-old defender has played more than 60 matches for the Iranian national team. He has also played for clubs in Qatar and Belgium.
According to Islamic law in force in Iran since the 1979 revolution, a man cannot have physical contact with a woman outside the family circle. Furthermore, the presence of women in a stadium in Iran has been banned for decades.
Last April, Hossein Hosseini, Esteghlal’s goalkeeper, was suspended after hugging a female supporter during a championship match. The media then indicated that the Federation had fined him 300 million tomans (4,400 euros) for “bad behavior towards security agents during the match”.
