Last September, Zohreh Koudaei played an important role in Iran’s victory over Jordan. She made two saves in the penalty shoot-out to allow her country to qualify for the inaugural Women’s Asian Cup. But the Jordanian Federation suspects the guardian of being a man.
In early November, a letter was sent to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) requesting an investigation to verify the player’s gender. It was posted on social media by Prince Ali Ben al-Hussein, who is also the president of the Jordanian Federation.
In this letter, the Jordanian Federation expresses doubts about the “eligibility” of Zohreh Koudaei, recalling that Iran has a “liability concerning gender and doping issues”.
No relevance to previous tweets but it’s a very serious issue if true. Please wake up @theafcdotcom pic.twitter.com/egk678CXCX
– Ali Al Hussein (@AliBinAlHussein) November 13, 2021
Iran reacted through the voice of its coach Maryam Irandoust, who described the accusations as “false pretenses” for “not accepting defeat”.
She said she was ready to “provide any document requested by the AFC”. “The medical staff carefully examined each player of the national team” to check the “hormones” and “to avoid any problems”, she assured the sports media Varzesh3.
Ürdün Futbol Federasyonu, Kadınlar Milli Maçı sonrası penaltılarda takıma galibiyeti getiren İran kalecisini FIFA’ya şikayet etti!
“Kaledeki kadın değil, erkek! Derhal soruşturma açın!”
https://t.co/vp102D0ri8 pic.twitter.com/HQFNPw682L
– FutbolArena (@futbolarena) November 14, 2021
