Iranian female footballer Mohammadi dies in car crash
Iranian footballer Melika Mohammadi, a member of the women’s national team, died in a car accident near the southeast city of Bam.
She was 23.
Two of Mohammadi’s Bam Khatoon FC teammates, Behnaz Taherkhani and Zahra Khajavi, and the male driver suffered severe injuries during the incident when the taxi car overturned near the Bagh Chamak crossroad, five kilometers outside Bam, in the early hours of Sunday.
Khatoon Bam, the top team in the Iranian Women’s Pro League, was to host Malavan FC – second in the table on goal difference – on Friday, but the game has been called off after the tragic incident, Gelareh Nazemi, the head of the Iranian league organization, said.
Mohammadi was a center-back in the national team’s starting XI during October’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Perth, Australia, where double defeats against the host (2-0) and the Philippines (1-0) either side of a goalless draw against the Chinese Taipei saw Maryam Azmoun’s side finish third in Group A and fail to reach the third round of the qualifiers.