Jordan's Prince Ali calls for investigation into Iranian footballer's gender after national team defeat

The Jordan Football Federation (JFA) has cast doubts over the gender of an Iranian footballer who represented the Islamic Republic in a Women's Asia Cup qualifier against them on 25 September.  

JFA President Ali Bin Al-Hussein called on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to investigate the player in question in a letter published on Twitter Saturday.

The footballer, who played in goal, helped Iran defeat Jordan in penalties, securing their spot in the 2022 AFC Women's Asia Cup. 

"Considering the evidence submitted by JFA and given the importance of this competition, we request the AFC to initiate a transparent and clear investigation by a panel of independent medical experts to investigate the eligibility of the player in question," read the letter Prince Ali posted on Twitter. 

The JFA said an investigation was needed to "uphold the integrity of the game in Asia". 

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

The letter also claimed Iran has a history of "gender and doping issues". 

In 2015, eight players in the Iran women's football team were alleged to be men awaiting gender reassignment operations, according to an official close to the Iranian football league who briefed the media. 

A year earlier there were allegations that four players in the squad were men and in 2010 questions were asked about the gender of the national team's goalkeeper. 

The Iranian team coach Maryam Irandoost rebuked accusations that a man had infiltrated the women's team. 

She was quoted by media outlets saying that Jordan's complaint to the AFC was "an excuse not to accept the defeat". 

She was also quoted saying that each member of the team was carefully examined by medical staff with hormone and testosterone tests. 

The match between Iran and Jordan took place in Tajikistan and ended in a 0-0 draw. 

Iran claimed victory in a  4-2 penalty shootout.