Punishment for Hugging a Female Fan: Fine and Suspension for Esteghlal Captain; Hossein Hosseini: I Sacrifice for That Lady

Following the embrace of a female spectator by the captain of Esteghlal football team, the disciplinary committee of the Football Federation issued a new ruling imposing a monetary fine, a public apology in official media, and a suspension from the match against Tractor for Hossein Hosseini. According to a ruling published on Tuesday, April 23, on the website of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic, Hossein Hosseini, the goalkeeper of Esteghlal football team, was summoned again to the disciplinary committee following an interview after the match against Shams Azar Qazvin on April 20, leading to a new suspension for his comments in that interview. Recently, during the match between Aluminum Arak and Esteghlal Tehran, Hosseini embraced a female fan who had jumped onto the field with a 'Jimmy Jump' move. Following this action, the Football Federation accused Hosseini of 'misconduct towards the official match authorities (security officers of the match)' and, in addition to a previous fine, imposed a '30 million tomans fine, a requirement to apologize in official media,' and a suspension from the match against Tractor. The disciplinary committee had previously fined Hosseini 300 million tomans and suspended him for one match. Meanwhile, on April 20, the Esteghlal goalkeeper stated in an interview with the media, 'I will pay the fine. I sacrifice for that female fan!' After this statement, the disciplinary committee summoned the Esteghlal captain again for 'providing some explanations' and this time suspended him from the match against Tractor due to 'his interview after the match with Shams Azar Qazvin.' According to this ruling, Esteghlal Tehran club was also fined '60 million tomans.' The disciplinary committee's ruling has a seven-day period for appeal to the appeals committee. Additionally, Amirhossein Sadeghi, a former player of Esteghlal club, who supported Hossein Hosseini in an interview by saying 'he made the most expensive hug in football history,' has been summoned by the ethics committee.