Seven players in Iran’s women’s soccer league, including four on the country’s national team, have been dismissed after they failed gender tests to prove they were women. The players were either men who had not yet completed sex-change operations or were experiencing sexual-development disorders, according to the Daily Telegraph.

From now on, clubs will have to perform mandatory gender tests before signing players to ensure that they are women. Additionally, inspectors will randomly drop by training sessions and games to check on the players.


Players who have their contracts terminated for failing the gender tests will still be allowed to return to the league, but only after undergoing medical treatment, said an official with Iran’s soccer federation. The Telegraph reports that sex-change operations, which are legal in the country under a fatwa by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, take up to two years to be completed in Iran.