Jordan Prince doubts gender of Iran's star player in Women's Asia Cup, wants AFC to probe

Marking a milestone in the nation's history in football, Iran has qualified for their first-ever Women’s Asia Cup, thanks to a 4-2 shootout victory over Jordan back in September. While the victory has been celebrated by hundreds of Iranian football enthusiasts, Jordan has raised objections to it stating its scepticism towards the gender of the Islamic Republic’s star player. Pertaining to the same, Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, on Sunday sent a letter to Asian Football Federation (AFC), demanding a ‘gender verification check’ of Zohreh Koudaei.

In the letter, the prince cited Article 47 of the AFC highlighting that it isn’t mandatory for participating players to get the gender verification check done. But, the federation is obliged to “investigate and take proper actions” if there is doubt on the eligibility of participating players. Furthermore, he went on and suggested that  “the Iranian Women Football team has a history with gender and doping issues”, and he demanded an independent investigation should be conducted.

“Considering the evidence submitted by Jordanian Football Association 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 and others on the team,” an excerpt from the letter reads. 

Team selector Irandoost says Jordanian Prince's letter an 'attempt to shift blame'

32-year-old Koudaei has defended herself several times over the years. Replying to the Jordanian Prince's question, Iran’s team selector Maryam Irandoost claimed the letter is nothing more than an attempt to shift blame after an unexpected defeat. In the controversial match, the Islamic Republic of Iran defeated its long time rival Jordan by scoring 4-2 in a penalty shootout in the match held in Tajikistan.

AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 to be held in Mumbai

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 Local Organising Committee (LOC) have today confirmed the Mumbai Football Arena of Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai, and the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune as the new venues and host cities for the continent’s premier women’s national team competition.

On their official website, the AFC stated "The decision was confirmed taking into careful consideration the existing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and as part of efforts to minimise the travelling time for teams and officials between the venues, whilst ensuring the optimum environment to implement the biomedical bubble for the benefit of all stakeholders."

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