The Department of Foreign Affairs has denied news agency reports that female Irish soccer supporters will be refused entry to Tehran's Azadi stadium for Thursday's World Cup play-off between the Republic of Ireland and Iran.
Iran has given permission for Irish women supporters to travel and attend the match, a Department spokeswoman said. She added that it was still unclear where in the stadium they would be seated. A spokeswoman for Ray Treacy Travel, official agency to the Football Association of Ireland, said yesterday eight Irish women had booked with them for the trip to Tehran.
Iran's Kayhan newspaper, citing an unidentified informed source, said the "trip by a group of Irish women to Iran to watch the return match between Iran's national football team and Ireland has been cancelled."
But a staff member at the Irish embassy in Tehran told the AFP news agency no such information had been received by the embassy. A crowd of 110,000 is expected to attend Thursday's second leg of the play-off, following Ireland's 2-0 win on Saturday. If Irish women attended the match there may be "fierce reactions" from influential clerics in Iran's holy city of Qom, the Jomhuri-Eslami newspaper warned yesterday. It said a number of top clerics have opposed the visit by female fans.