For years, Iran’s Mahsa Ghorbani, a pioneering girls’s soccer referee, stood resiliently in opposition to social and authorities restrictions, till she not may, and left her dwelling nation for Sweden in December.
Born in 1989, Ghorbani’s first expertise as an Asian soccer referee was on the under-14 tournaments. In 2017 she was acknowledged by FIFA as an elite worldwide referee.
In July, she made sports activities historical past as the primary Iranian lady to referee a global soccer match when she officiated the U20 CAFA Championship match between Tajikistan and Afghanistan within the Kyrgyz metropolis of Jalal-Abad.
Beforehand Ghorbani officiated within the AFC Ladies’s Asian Cup and 2023 FIFA Ladies’s World Cup, and likewise males’s matches within the second division league of the Maldives.
Nevertheless, the tide turned in opposition to Ghorbani when she was appointed as a video assistant referee (VAR) official to observe a males’s match involving Tehran’s two largest sides, Esteghlal and Persepolis, performed on March 13, 2024.
Within the days main as much as the high-profile Tehran derby match, she confronted widespread official opposition in Iran and her title was faraway from the referee listing by the Iran Soccer Federation (IFF) simply 48 hours earlier than the fixture, regardless of assist from FIFA, world soccer’s official governing physique.
After dealing with demise threats, insinuations of staged automotive accidents and acid assaults, and repeated interrogations by the IFF, Ghorbani made a momentous determination to depart Iran.
In a phone name with the Iran Soccer Federation’s communications and public relations officer, the organisation was given the chance to touch upon Ghorbani’s particular allegations of mistreatment. Al Jazeera’s reporter was informed that the federation had no remark and that they need to not name once more.
On this interview, Ghorbani speaks candidly about her love for soccer, anger on the injustices she confronted as a feminine soccer referee in Iran, and her hope for a brighter future.
Al Jazeera: Mahsa, why did you determine to to migrate to Sweden?
Mahsa Ghorbani: I reached a degree in refereeing the place I used to be one step away from the FIFA World Cup 2022, however the Iran Soccer Federation (IFF) eliminated me, below strain from different [internal] establishments. After the World Cup, there was the Tehran derby incident. They turned officiating a soccer match right into a demise menace. They’re afraid of giving girls house to develop.
One time they stated: “At the moment, you officiate within the VAR room, tomorrow you need to referee on the sidelines, and the day after, you need to be the principle referee on the sphere!” I all the time wished to remain and succeed [as a referee] below Iran’s title, however I reached a stage the place I confronted demise threats and realized there was no extra room even for one step ahead.
Al Jazeera: What threats did you face and from whom?
Mahsa Ghorbani: Just a few days earlier than the [Tehran derby] match, officers tried to seek out any justification to carry me to the soccer federation. After I went there [to the IFF], they switched off my cellphone and took it. Additionally they stated my bag could be saved exterior the room.
After I entered the room there have been two safety representatives and several other federation officers current, and so they locked the door.
At first, they politely requested me to withdraw from officiating the match. Then they requested me to put in writing a letter saying I used to be not mentally and psychologically match to referee this match. Lastly, they requested me to take a seat in entrance of a digital camera and say that I used to be too ailing to do it.
Al Jazeera: Why did the Iran Soccer Federation ask you to do that?
Mahsa Ghorbani: Their [IFF’s] problem wasn’t with the media or the individuals of Iran. They only wished a doc to current to FIFA to forestall political interference in sports activities. I didn’t adjust to their calls for. Nevertheless, I later discovered {that a} letter – which I didn’t write or signal – had been despatched by the Federation to FIFA stating that I, Mahsa Ghorbani, as a consequence of affected by a extreme sickness, was not match to officiate the Tehran derby.
Al Jazeera: What occurred whenever you refused to put in writing this letter?
Mahsa Ghorbani: They [the IFF] began to make use of my apparel in worldwide matches as an excuse. They requested me to confess in writing that I didn’t put on the suitable apparel.
Basically, they wished me to say that I used to be “undressed” and deliberately displayed myself. They even threatened me. They stated: “For those who depart via this door, they are going to kill you, for instance, in a staged accident, so it’s higher to cooperate.”
They threatened me a number of instances with acid assaults. However my response was all the time the identical: “I might somewhat die than dwell with out dignity.”
Al Jazeera: What do you put on in worldwide matches?
Mahsa Ghorbani: In most matches, I appeared with out a hijab, and regardless of the pressures, I usually stated “no” to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s obligatory hijab, that means I wore the identical accredited referee uniforms as all referees.
Nevertheless, when the strain elevated and for the sake of my household’s peace, I wore beige-coloured assist socks and hats in some matches.
Al Jazeera: Why didn’t you abide by the accredited Iran Soccer Federation uniform, like different feminine referees in Iran?
Mahsa Ghorbani: Again then, I felt that this was a step in the direction of freedom for Iranian girls and progress in the direction of equality.
In these years, I all the time had conflicting feelings. Even now, as I recount these occasions to you, I really feel a mix of happiness and sorrow.
On the one hand, I smile as a result of I managed to struggle; however however, I’m unhappy that we’ve to struggle for the only rights that different ladies world wide get pleasure from.
Al Jazeera: One among your goals was to take part within the FIFA Males’s World Cup. Are you continue to pursuing this purpose?
Mahsa Ghorbani: Collaborating within the World Cup and worldwide tournaments has all the time been certainly one of my most important objectives, and I’m nonetheless striving to attain it. I’ll proceed on this path with much more motivation.
I all the time informed these round me that in the future, in a significant event, in an essential match, I might enter the sphere with out a obligatory hijab and characterize the ladies of Iran.
I can’t spare any effort till I attain this purpose. It is crucial for me not solely to raise my very own title but additionally to proudly characterize Iran on the worldwide stage. Each time I take into consideration this, my coronary heart beats quicker with pleasure as a result of I need to have a spot within the hearts of my individuals.
This text is printed in collaboration with Egab.