Iran´s only female football official quits

AFP - Iran's sole female football official, Parastou Younchi, has resigned after the director of the Iranian football federation said football was a male sport, an Iranian women's website said Tuesday.

"Football is a male sport and women cannot be successful in the federation," Mohammad Dadkan, who took over on January 18, was quoted as saying by the womeniniran site run by pro-reform female journalists.

"After this statement, I decided to resign as I was the only woman on the management board," said Younchi, who ran against Dadkan for the federation presidency in January.

Football is a national passion in Iran and has many female fans, but they can only play it in a few indoor halls where men cannot watch them, and are barred from the stands ostensibly because of the bad language and rowdiness of male spectators.

However sports officials have said that special sections are to be reserved for women and families.