Iran’s football ethics committee has summoned professional player Ramin Rezaeian after he was seen hugging a female fan prior to a domestic league match, local media reported on Friday.
Rezaeian, a 34-year-old defender for Tehran giants Esteghlal and the Iranian national team, embraced the fan before his team’s match against Chadormalu in Yazd province on Thursday.
“The ethics committee of the Football Federation of Iran has summoned Ramin Rezaeian,” Tasnim news agency reported. The football federation has not yet issued an official comment on the incident.
Rezaeian, who has earned over 60 caps for Iran, has also played professionally in Qatar and Belgium.
Under Iran’s strict Islamic laws, enacted after the 1979 revolution, men and women are prohibited from engaging in any physical contact unless closely related.
Since the revolution, women were generally barred from attending football matches, though in August 2022, they were allowed entry for the first time in over four decades during a championship match.
This is not the first such incident in recent months. In April, Esteghlal goalkeeper Hossein Hosseini was suspended after embracing a female supporter during a championship match. He was fined approximately $4,700 and handed a one-match suspension for “bad behaviour towards security agents.”
