FIFA Statement regarding the Football Federation of Iran

FIFA has received a letter from the President of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mobsen Safaei Farohani, concerning a movie shown on French television on the evening of Monday 15 June 1998.

The movie, entitled ” Not Without My Daughter “, was shown on the French channel M6.

The Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran maintained in its letter that the screening of this film contravened the FIFA regulations banning political or religious messages in connection with the FIFA World Cup. The letter asserted that the ” totally false and untrue film has damaged the mentalities of the Iranian national team players ” and registered the Association’s ” strong protest ” to the French televison channel and to the CFO.

 In response, FIFA said it regretted if the players and other members of the Iranian delegation felt in any way inconvenienced by the showing of the film. FIFA stressed that it had no influence over the M6 channel, which is a private channel and not part of the GRF group responsible for the host broadcaster coverage of France 98, and that neither did FIFA have any influence over television programming in France.

FIFA Communications Division

Paris, 17 June 1998