FIFA chief green-lights Iranian cheetah logo for Iran team jersey

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, World football governing body (FIFA) chief Sepp Blatter said on Thursday that he will support a plan to fight extinction of Iranian cheetah.

Wrapping up a two-day visit to Tehran, Blatter promised to support a national plan aimed at fighting extinction of Iranian cheetah in form of designing a logo to depict the image of the cheetah on national football team’s jersey in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

On the issue of women players being allowed to wear the Islamic headscarf, Blatter said that the final decision on a trial, under way since July last year, would be taken at a FIFA board meeting in Zurich on February 28.

“We are in a period of try how it works out,” he said.

“The trial was launched last year at the request of the Asian Football Confederation. Iran was among its supporters,” he added.

Regarding a question about what should Iran do to gain a FIFA seat and why Ali Daei missed the position in the body, Blatter said that another representative from Iran will join one of the FIFA committees in the near future.

“Iran had already one seat in FIFA. Mr. Kafashian who is now the head of the Football Federation was a member of Futsal Committee and he continues to serve in the body. Ali Daei was also a member of FIFA’s Technical Committee, but due to the structural changes of the committees taking place at the end of each year, he lost his seat,” he added.

“However, after this trip to your country, another representative from Iran will certainly become a member of a FIFA committee in the near future”, Blatter said

Blatter also urged Iranian authorities to lift the ban on women’s presence in stadiums as spectators.