( CNN ) FIFA president Sepp Blatter has told Iran to end its `` intolerable '' ban on women attending football matches . Writing in the FIFA Weekly magazine published by world football 's governing body , Blatter described the situation as one that `` can not continue . '' Iran 's ban was put in the spotlight at the Asian Cup in Australia earlier this year , when thousands of female Iranian fans watched their team without restriction . At the match against Iraq , activists unfurled a banner showing the face of Ghoncheh Ghavami , a British-Iranian woman jailed for trying to watch a volleyball match against Brazil in 2014 , and called for the ban to end . The measure was imposed following the 1979 Islamic Revolution because the idea of mixed crowds was deemed un-Islamic . Iran is in the running to host the 2019 edition of the Asian tournament , for which the United Arab Emirates is also bidding . But the ban is widely expected to scupper its chances of securing the event . Blatter wrote : `` I raised the topic at my meeting with the President of Iran , Hassan Rouhani , and came away with the impression that this intolerable situation could change over the medium term . `` However , nothing has happened . A collective stadium ban still applies to women in Iran , despite the existence of a thriving women 's football organization . `` This can not continue . Hence my appeal to the Iranian authorities -- open the nation 's football stadiums to women . '' During last year 's football World Cup , CNN reported how fans in Iran gathered to watch games in venues that defied a ban on public screenings . At one coffee shop in the capital , Tehran , the tense game against Argentina -- a game Iran lost only to an injury-time Lionel Messi goal -- was watched by a large mixed crowd . `` 100 percent it 's better this way , '' said Negar Valayi . `` It does n't happen often . It would be great if we have more of this . '' `` It 's actually much better to watch it with a bunch of people around because it makes you feel more excited , '' said Roya Marzbahan . Hoardings advertising the World Cup throughout Tehran that summer had featured no pictures of women . And state TV broadcasts of matches employed a delay of several seconds in order for images of female fans deemed too racy to be censored . Blatter also hit out at football 's continental confederations for failing to elect any women onto governing body 's executive committee . The committee includes three women -- one of whom has voting rights and two of whom are co-opted -- but they are elected directly by the FIFA congress following a change to the statutes in 2011 . `` This was hard work because the members of FIFA 's executive committee are elected by the national associations ... and there was never , never a proposal for a woman to be finally in FIFA , '' the 78-year-old said at an event in Switzerland . `` We had to take the decision , and I did it in 2011 at the end of the congress , [ that ] we must have at least one woman on the executive committee . '' He described football as a `` macho '' sport and warned : `` We should change in the future . ''
FIFA president writes about issue in FIFA Weekly magazine . He says he discussed it during talks with Iranian president . Thousands of Iranian women watched games at Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates . Protests held at tournament called for ban to be ended .