Nearly two months ago on Saturday, September 25, 2021, the Iranian national women’s football team beat Jordan 4-2 in a penalty shootout, earning itself a spot in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asia Cup. It will be Iranian female footballers’ first appearance in the tournament and comes after a challenging summer for the team.
Both teams were in with an equal change of making it through. In the end it was Zohreh Koudaei, Iran’s brilliant goalkeeper, who won it for Iran after successfully batting away two shots from the Jordanian side.
But in the immediate aftermath, the mood soured. This Sunday, Prince Ali bin Hussein, the third son of King Hussein of Jordan and president of the Jordan Football Association (JFA), submitted a written complaint to the Asian Football Confederation demanding that “a player” – widely thought to refer to Koudaei – be subject to a “gender verification check”.
Bin Hussein further wrote: "Considering the evidence submitted by JFA and given the importance of this competition, we request the AFC initiate a transparent and clear investigation by a panel of independent medical experts to investigate the eligibility of the player in question and others on the team, particularly [given] the Iranian women's football team has a history with gender and doping issues.”
What was the Jordanian Prince Referring to?
In recent years, accusation of countries deliberately using "younger" players in men's teams and "male players" in women's teams have become commonplace in world football. By misrepresenting players’ identities or lowering requirements, it’s alleged, clubs or federations can give themselves a competitive advantage. In reality this has become next to impossible due to strict oversight by FIFA and the continental Confederations.
Prince Ali bin Hussein claimed in his letter that the Iranian Football Federation had form in this tactic. In all likelihood, he was referring to a series of checks that were reportedly conducted on the women’s team by FIFA in 2016. These were meant to take place in secret, but later became public knowledge. That said, had any of the players actually turned out to be male, it would surely have been reported by FIFA.
The second allegation in Prince Ali bin Hussein’s letter is one that, as far as is known, has never been raised in public before: that the team has been pulled up for doping. Neither the AFC nor FIFA have reported on such a thing.
Who is Zohreh Koudaei, and What do the Authorities Say?
Global news outlets outlets pointed to Zohreh Koudaei as the target of the Jordan Football Association’s claims. Kodaei was born in 1989 and is said to be from the Kahvaei tribe, based in the Barangard village in Khuzestan. Today her family lives in Ahvaz while she herself lives in Isfahan. Pictures taken at her father's house during the penalty shootout against Jordan show her mother praying, then crying with joy when her daughter saves the Jordanian penalty kicks.
As a child, Kodaei has said, she worked as a carpenter while still attending school. "I was from a family I had to work to support, because of a series of financial misfortunes," she said. In time, she was able to focus all her attention on football. Today she is known as one of Iran’s best goalkeepers and has a contract with Zob Ahan Isfahan FC.
This isn’t the first time Jordan has lost to Iran in women’s football and made a scene about it. Iran came second in the 2011 West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship, with midfielder Maryam Rahimi named best player of the tournament after her hat-trick saw Iran win 3-2 against Jordan in the semi-finals. The next day, a major Jordanian newspaper carried the headline: “Ms. Goal Asia is a Man”.
It might be that this is going to be Jordan’s fallback position every time its women’s team loses to Iran. In a previous interview with IranWire, one of the directors of the Iranian Football Federation called the 2011 episode “humiliating” for the Kingdom, adding: "Jordanians didn’t even suggest the presence of trans women. They said that ‘men’ play in the women's league and national team."
Zohreh Haratian, a medical and doping control officer with the Iran Football Medical Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre (IFMARC), has told Mehr News Agency: “The issue of gender is routinely discussed within the AFC. The original documents for all members of all Iranian national women’s football team, which were approved by the AFC, are available and can be sent to whomsoever the AFC requests.”
IFMARC conducts all medical and chemical evaluations within Iranian football and is in charge of the standardization of the process in Iran with rules laid out by FIFA. FIFA recognizes IFMARC as one of its approved centers for determining players’ exact gender and age.
“Beautiful Girl"
The past two days have seen an outpouring of support for Zohreh Koudaei in cyberspace, particularly among Iranians. Fans have referred to her as the "brave girl" or "beautiful girl" of Iranian football. The circle of support has gone further, with Arabic-speaking observers also writing of her: “Proud of you, sister.”
The team’s head coach Maryam Irandoost has also stood up for her goalkeeper, telling the IRIB’s Varzesh 3 channel: “Medical staff have carefully examined each player on the national team in terms of hormones to avoid any problems in this regard. So I tell all fans not to worry. We will provide any documentation that the AFC wishes without wasting time. These allegations are just an excuse not to accept defeat against the Iranian women's national team.”
The AFC has not yet publicly responded to the Jordanian complaint. But on Tuesday night, Qatari sports news website Stad al-Doha claimed it had been rejected.
Related coverage:
'Protectors' Cramp Iranian Female Footballers' Style in Tashkent
Luxury Planes, Absent Coaches: Iranian Female Footballers' Summer of Discontent
Women Have Been Demanding Their Right to Play Football for Half a Century
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