Source : ABC NEWS
Iran brought 26 players to Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup and five of them have been granted asylum to avoid returning home.
After the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the eve of the first game, the Iranian players became one of the most public representatives of the nation.
Coach Marziyeh Jafari dodged an early question during a press conference before 21-year-old Sara Didar spoke about her sadness through an interpreter.
“We’re all concerned and we are sad what has happened to Iran and our families in Iran and our beloved ones,” she said through tears.
“But I really hope very good for our country and to have very good news ahead. I hope that my country would be strongly alive.”
Zahra Sarbali (left) and Mona Hamoudi (right) are among the five players granted asylum. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
The women’s team’s silence during the national anthem before their first game at the tournament, for which they were branded “traitors” on state TV, followed by a team-wide salute during their second match, prompted fears over persecution of players if they return to Iran.
After the team’s tournament ended with a 2-0 loss to the Philippines, Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramezanizadeh and Mona Hamoudi successfully applied for asylum from the Australian government.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he met with the women last night and they were “welcome to stay in Australia”.
“They’re athletes who want to be safe and are very grateful that Australia is taking that opportunity,” he said.
All five players have played for the national team for years, although only Sarbali played at the team’s Asian Cup debut four years ago.
A banned captain
Zahra Ghanbari is the Iranian women’s team’s top goal-scorer. (Instagram: Zahra Ghanbari)
Ghanbari is the team’s captain and a star midfielder, who made headlines in October 2024 when her hijab came off during an AFC Champions League game.
Ghanbari scored the game-winner in the 93rd minute for Bam Khatoon, with her headscarf having slipped off and settled around her neck.
Photos and videos of her celebration with her hair uncovered were beamed around the world, and she was briefly banned from playing football.
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Ghanbari, the top goal-scorer in the women’s league that season, was only reinstated after she and her team both apologised for “the incident” during her goal celebration.
She is Team Melli’s leading goal-scorer.
The 34-year-old was, until moving to Persepolis last year, a member of the most decorated women’s club in Iran, Bam Khatoon FC, which has won 12 of the past 15 Iranian women’s pro league titles.
Zahra Sarbali played for Iran at the 2022 Asian Cup in India. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Sarbali, 32, is also a former member of Bam Khatoon, playing with them for seven years until 2024, when she moved to Gol Gohar, which finished runner-up in the Iranian league this year.
The veteran midfielder played every minute of Iran’s three Asian Cup games this year.
Twelve-time champions and national teammates
Mona Hamoudi is one of 11 players in the Iranian Asian Cup squad from 12-time club champion Bam Khatoon. (Getty Images: Wang He)
Meanwhile, Ramezanizadeh, Pasandideh and Hamoudi are among the 11 current Bam Khatoon players in the 26-strong squad, as well as coach Jafari.
Ramezanizadeh is the club’s captain and formerly the national skipper.
After they won the league yet again in February, she posted a video of herself lifting the trophy in front of her teammates, all of whom stood with stony-faced expressions as confetti rained down.
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She wrote that the title was “a great honour” and a source of pride after a season of hard work, but said the team celebrates with “heavy hearts”.
“When our people are grieving the loss of their loved ones, it becomes difficult to celebrate,” her caption read.
“We dedicate this championship to all the people, and we hope it brings a small amount of warmth to their hearts.”
Celebrations were muted for Pasandideh, Ramezanizadeh and their teammates in February. (Instagram: Fatemeh Pasandideh)
The championship was won shortly after thousands died in protests against the Iranian regime.
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Pasandideh and Hamoudi spoke similarly about the winning moment on social media.
“A championship that found its meaning in the heart of sorrow, alongside the grieving mothers of my land and the noble people of Bam,” Pasandideh wrote.
“The result of one year of effort and standing strong, out of respect for the pains that are never forgotten.”
