Mehnaz Zakaei’s reaction to her removal from the derby: I have never officiated in favor of a team as a referee.
The international female referee from Iran reacted to her name being removed from the list of referees for Derby 103.
According to yesterday’s announcement by Mehdi Taj, the president of the Football Federation, Mehnaz Zakaei, an international football referee from Iran, was supposed to be present as the VAR room referee in Derby 103.
Last night, a photo of this referee was published on social media, showing her in the past supporting Persepolis at the stadium.
This issue led the Football Federation to remove this referee from the list of referees for Derby 103 to prevent any suspicions, and subsequently, Saadullah Golmoradi, a Tajikistani referee, was chosen as Zakaei’s replacement.
In this context, ISNA reached out to Mehnaz Zakaei. Zakaei stated: First, I must say that the referees’ committee does not allow referees to give interviews, but given the news that has been published about me in the past 24 hours, I found it necessary to provide some explanations.
She explained that the published photo of her as a Persepolis supporter was related to the year 2018 and the final match of the AFC Champions League between Iran’s Reds and Kashima Antlers of Japan. She said this match was the first presence of women in Azadi Stadium after many years. If you remember, Infantino was also present at this game. I must say that in that game, it wasn’t about Esteghlal and Persepolis, and women interested in football wanted to seize the opportunity to go to Azadi Stadium to watch football.
The referee continued: I have never, in my professional career as a referee, shown favoritism towards any team, and it is strange to me that such an incident occurred after my name was announced as one of the derby referees. For this reason, I believe this incident originated from within the football community. In any case, I lost the opportunity to be present at the derby, but I hope whoever is officiating the game will be successful.
