FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called on Iran to end its "intolerable" ban on women watching football matches.
Iran is bidding against the United Arab Emirates to host the 2019 Asian Cup, but Reuters reports that the ban on women attending men's sporting events in the country will likely damage their chances of being chosen as tournament hosts.
Iran's footballers were threatened with punishment by the Iranian Football Federation for posing for "selfies" with female supporters during the Asian Cup in Australia earlier this year.
Blatter, who made a similar plea to Iran in 2013, wrote in FIFA's weekly magazine on Friday: "When I travelled to Iran in November 2013, I was not only confronted with huge popular enthusiasm for football but also with a law forbidding women from attending football matches.
"I raised the topic at my meeting with 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 organisation. This cannot continue. Hence my appeal to the Iranian authorities: open the nation's football stadiums to women!"
Blatter's article comes as FIFA marks International Women's Day (March 8) with a Women's Football and Leadership Conference in Zurich on March 6.
FIFA's president has targeted women's football as a key area of growth for the sport, especially in Arab countries, writing: "Women's football is booming, especially at junior levels: 14 percent of all young players are female.
"The potential for growth is greater than in any other area of our sport, and the opportunity to overcome social and community barriers is even more pronounced.
"Even in territories where women are all but invisible for cultural reasons, football can instil a sense of purpose and self-worth that is too often denied them in their everyday lives. The International Football Association Board acknowledged the signs of the times in 2014 when it confirmed that the wearing of head coverings in official football matches is permissible.
"This opened the door to football for millions of girls and women. Especially in the Arab world, where the next U-17 Women's World Cup will take place in Jordan in 2016, our sport plays a crucial role in efforts to promote integration and equality for women."
Blatter also criticised the continental confederations for failing to elect any women onto the FIFA's executive committee, with Reuters quoting him as saying: "This was hard work because the members of FIFA's executive committee are elected by the national associations in their [continental] Congresses and... there was never, never a proposal for a woman to be finally in FIFA.
"We had to take the decision, and I did it in 2011 at the end of the Congress, I said we must have at least one woman on the executive committee. In all the confederations, there is no woman... [in] this macho sport, and that's a pity, we should change in the future."