Iran is planning to offer handmade artworks to the International Federation of Football Association at the 2018 World Cup event for publicizing the same, an official at Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization said.
The members of cultural working group at Iran's Football Federation were invited on Saturday to the headquarters of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization to visit a collection of handicrafts selected for presenting them as gifts, CHTN reported.
Pouya Mahmoudian, the director of Trade and Exports Office at ICHHTO, added that a variety of Iranian artworks, including paintings by Mahmoud Farshchian, the master of Persian miniature art, were presented as possible items.
"The football event, scheduled for 14 June to 15 July, is a great opportunity for us to promote the country's handicrafts and expand the market at the international level," she said.
Mahmoudian noted that an art and crafts fair is to be held in Moscow simultaneously, which is an opportunity for heritage authorities to introduce Iranian art to the world.
According to Jack Warner, a former member of FIFA's executive committee from 1983 to 2011, gift giving has been part of FIFA culture in the past 30 years, Reuters reported.
Before the draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup was held at State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Mohammad Reza Saket, secretary-general of Iran Football Federation, had presented vitreous enamel works of art to Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, Fatma Samura, the association's secretary-general and Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s deputy prime minister for sports, tourism and youth policy.
Iran is drawn in one of the toughest groups with Portugal, Spain and Morocco. Its first match will be against Morocco at Saint Petersburg on June 15.
