For Iran's coach, it is a matter of "inability to accept defeat," but the Jordan Football Federation is insistent that one player in Iran's women's national football team may not be female at all. The Federation formally submitted a complaint to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to "verify" the gender of a player from a rival team who played in a Sept. 25 Women's Asia Cup qualifier.

Ali Bin al-Hussein, the president of the Jordan Football Association (JFA), shared the letter Sunday on Twitter. "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 and others on the team, particularly (given) that the Iranian Women's Football Team has a history with gender and doping issues," the letter said.

After the match ended with a 0-0 score, Iran defeated Jordan 4-2 in a penalty shootout in the Group G clash held in Tajikistan to earn a spot in the 2022 AFC Women's Asia Cup.

The player's identity questioned by Jordan is not disclosed, but Iran quickly responded to allegations. Iranian team's coach Maryam Irandoost was quoted by media outlets that Jordan's complaint to AFC was "an excuse not to accept the defeat." She was quoted as saying that each member of the team was carefully examined by medical staff in hormone and testosterone tests.