As a minimum, unusual

The match took place on September 25 between the women's national teams of Iran and Jordan. Iran qualified for the first Women's Asian Cup in 2022 (to be held in India from January 20 to February 6, 2022) after defeating Jordan 4-2, thanks in particular to two penalties saved by goalkeeper Zohreh Koudaei. But now, a month and a half later, the president of the Jordanian Federation, Prince Ali Ben Al-Hussein, published a letter on Twitter dated November 5 in which he demands to "verify the gender" of the player.

"We understand that gender verification is not mandatory for participating players, however, the article reserves the right for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to investigate and take appropriate measures if there are doubts about the eligibility of a participating player", says the letter published by the former vice president of FIFA. "We request that 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 other team members, particularly considering that the Iranian women's football team has a history of gender and doping issues. We expect the due process to be followed to defend the integrity of the game in Asia and we look forward to hearing from you about the outcome of this investigation.", the letter can be read.

In the same document, it is emphasized that there is "presented evidence", so a "transparent and clear investigation by a panel of independent medical experts" is requested to determine the gender of the player in question, whose name is not mentioned. It is also recalled that the Iranian women's team has "gender and doping history".

The references being made are to what happened in 2014 when it was discovered in gender tests that four players from the women's futsal team were men who were in the process of changing their gender, but had not yet completed it.

On the other hand, Iranian coach Maryam Irandoust dismissed these accusations as "false pretexts" to "not accept defeat" and expressed willingness to provide any documents required by the AFC. In this regard, she indicated that her players underwent various medical examinations to avoid any inconvenience, including doping.

"The medical staff has scrupulously examined each player on the national team to check their hormones and avoid any issues", the coach said on the sports program Varzeh3. And she added: "We will provide any documentation that the Asian Football Confederation wants without wasting time."