The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization has prevented a woman referee from officiating a football match for the first time, IranWire reports.
Mahsa Ghorbani, an Iranian international football referee, was scheduled to serve as an assistant video referee (VAR) during the Tehran Derby on March 13.
However, just two days before the match, officials informed the Football Federation that Ghorbani would not officiate.
"We were aware that Mahsa wouldn't be officiating this game," a source within the Football Federation told IranWire. "We hoped everything would be resolved without complications."
The source revealed a tense meeting held two days before the derby at the Ministry of Sports.
Representatives from various organizations, including the IRGC Intelligence, the Ministry of Sports Security, and the Football Federation, were present.
During the meeting, they asked, "Who recommended the female referees for this match?" Daniyal Moradi, the head of the referees' department, responded, "I recommended Ghorbani and Zokkaei."
The IRGC intelligence representative slammed the table and expressed disapproval.
According to IranWire's source, some federation directors were insulted by the IRGC intelligence representative during this meeting.
They were threatened that failure to cooperate with the IRGC intelligence organization would result in facing security charges and the reopening of their legal cases.
IranWire's source disclosed that during the meeting with the IRGC intelligence representatives, Mehdi Taj, the president of the Football Federation, asserted that he had previously received final approval for including female referees in the derby from the Ministry of Sports and Youth on March 9.
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