{"id":534952,"date":"2026-03-12T06:19:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T06:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534952\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T06:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T06:19:17","slug":"who-made-the-decisions-to-seek-asylum-in-australia-or-return-to-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534952\/","title":{"rendered":"Who made the decisions to seek asylum in Australia, or return to Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fourth may have been the impossible decision of whether to stay in Australia and start a new life, free of potential persecution by the Islamic regime, which was angered by the team\u2019s Asian Cup silent anthem protest<\/a>, but with nothing else she has ever known.<\/p>\n

To join captain Zahra Ghanbari, Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramezanizadeh and Mona Hamoudi in successfully seeking asylum, but be without her mother and her friends and a good, solid football salary that has already helped the 24-year-old immeasurably.<\/p>\n

\"Iranian<\/p>\n

Iranian footballer Zahra Ghanbari during a match.<\/p>\n

Khosravi had a particularly hard time deciding what to do, according to a source who spoke with her regularly during the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was like, \u2018I have everything in Iran. I know there\u2019s a war and everything, but I don\u2019t know what\u2019s the right thing to do. I don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to do to us when we get there\u2019,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

A 2001 baby, Khosravi grew up just as Iran was on the brink of growth in women\u2019s football. When female activists in the White Scarves campaign fought for stadium access (and often broke into what were male-only crowds), they utilised the popularity of football to push for broader social and gender rights.<\/p>\n

In April 2006, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that women would be allowed to attend football matches inside large stadia for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution, only for recently assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei to reinstate the ban a fortnight later.<\/p>\n

\"Iran\u2019s<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Atefeh Ramezani during a happy moment.<\/p>\n

Change was starting, but there wasn\u2019t yet a local women\u2019s football club for a nine-year-old Khosravi to join. Instead, she started playing futsal – Iran\u2019s premier indoor sport and a form of soccer – but was soon noticed by national junior team officials, who had her back on an outdoor field by the time she was 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe literally incubated her for a few months to just train her soccer skills so she would perform as well as the other kids,\u201d former Iranian women\u2019s international Katayoun Khosrowyar, who was the national youth team coach at the time, told the AFC in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was really skinny, but so fast. Golnoosh always loved soccer, starting when she first set her eyes on a ball, and her mum always supported her. I gave her debut in the under-14s, where she scored her first goal, and since then she has been a starting player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khosravi \u201chad the coolest haircuts, all the cool cleats\u201d, says another Iranian source close to the players, who has requested anonymity to protect the safety of their family.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very fashionable \u2013 one of the cool kids \u2013 and everyone wanted to be like her or cut their hair like her,\u201d says the source. \u201cBut she\u2019s lovely, very graceful. She takes care of her family. She takes care of her mum and her community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Persian culture, when you travel, you always come back with a souvenir for your friends and family. This girl would spend all her money the federation would give the players on souvenirs for friends and family. So imagine when she\u2019s got older: the souvenirs started becoming like, \u2018I\u2019m saving for down payment for a house\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through her football earnings, Khosravi got her family out of the slum and into a house, and her profile rose further in 2019 when, aged 18, she became the youngest Iranian woman to play club football in Europe, spending a season with five-time Turkish champions Konak Belediyespor before returning to Iran with Bam Khatoon.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, as the rest of the team waited at Sydney airport to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur, it appeared Khosravi might make a last-minute decision to stay in Australia. Home Affairs minister Tony Burke revealed one player had asked to speak with family members in Iran for advice on what to do. \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure which way that person would go,\u201d Burke said. \u201cThat individual, though, ultimately made their own decision [to leave].\u201d<\/p>\n

With her on the plane went a group of players and staff, all with their own stories. Who, despite coming from all over Iran, from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds and different dialects, play for their country as teammates.<\/p>\n

Among them is Maryam Yektaei, the Turkish-Iranian goalkeeper and the only player not based in Iran. Yektaei is \u201ca big deal\u201d in Turkey because, along with playing football professionally, she also works as a television news anchor and a doctor in sports health science and athletic performance.<\/p>\n

\"Iran\u2019s<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Maryam Yektaei during the match against Australia earlier this month.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Heading back to Iran, despite fears for their safety and possible persecution, is Melika Motevalli, the defender who \u201ctook care of business on the field\u201d in a way that did not match her smart, quiet off-field demeanour, and whose sister and fellow defender was the same.<\/p>\n

Then there is striker Afsaneh Chatrenoor, also 27, who on Tuesday was captured by cameras being led by the wrist by a teammate onto a Gold Coast bus leaving the team hotel bound for the airport.<\/p>\n

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Chatrenoor is the captain of domestic club Shahrdari Sirjan and a smart player whose father is a politician. \u201cBut a good politician who helped women have their own stadium,\u201d says another source. \u201cAnd he made sure women were able to come watch games. He did everything the government didn\u2019t want them to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there is Shabnam Behesht, a co-captain on the night the team did not sing the national anthem, who is all about football and has no time for chit-chat about anything else.<\/p>\n

Also, 25-year-old midfielder Fatemeh Makhdoumi, a Kurdish-Iranian who avoided a traditional Sunni arranged marriage by joining the national team set-up as a child.<\/p>\n

And Fatemeh Shaban, a 23-year-old midfielder from a strict religious family who started as a quirky kid and soon became the team favourite, finding her voice in football – and an endurance and fight that made it impossible to get past her.<\/p>\n

These are but a few of the players whose fates are now unknown. Of the five who opted for a new life in Australia, the longest serving is captain Ghanbari.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old forward joined the senior team as a 14-year-old who loved tricking her older teammates – skills no doubt learned from her brothers. A tomboy \u201cto the max\u201d, she always wore cool kicks and had a hard-headed approach towards becoming successful in a system not welcoming to female footballers.<\/p>\n

\"Iran\u2019s<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Atefeh Ramezani during a match.<\/p>\n

Ghanbari came from the generation that still had to dress like boys so they could train with other boys and male coaches because that\u2019s all that was available. In November 2024, she was suspended by Iran\u2019s federation because her headscarf slipped off during a last-minute goal celebration in an AFC Women\u2019s Champions League match and was forced to apologise before being allowed to rejoin the team.<\/p>\n

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And she was a source of inspiration for many other Tehran girls who did not know football could be an option. Now that it is, Ghanbari has seen and benefited from the changes since.<\/p>\n

They include lucrative domestic salaries bankrolled by numerous wealthy sponsors.<\/p>\n

Her successful club Bam Khatoon, for which half the national team plays and is coached by national team coach Marziyeh Jafari, is based in Bam, a city with a healthy date export business that hands out player salaries as high as a reported $US140,000.<\/p>\n

Ghanbari\u2019s father died recently, and she is her family\u2019s sole breadwinner, rendering her decision to stay even more difficult.<\/p>\n

The highest profile of those granted asylum is probably Sarbali, the 32-year-old midfielder and the comedian of the team. \u201cReally funny and annoying on the field,\u201d says the source.<\/p>\n

\u201cOff the field, she\u2019s just this ball of energy. In the middle of game, she\u2019ll just have to talk to herself, and says really funny things to herself like, \u2018Why are you being slow? Come on. You\u2019re walking like a donkey. Get yourself together.\u2019 She doesn\u2019t speak English at all, but she mimics it really well. She will make it sound like she\u2019s speaking English and start rapping.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut she loves her mum. She loves her country. This also was not an easy decision for her in any capacity because she was like a legend in Iran. Gets paid very highly, always getting sponsorship deals and is well respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there is Hamoudi, who speaks Arabic and Farsi as well as a little English, and has an aptitude for business. Along with Pasandideh and Ramezanizadeh, \u201cAustralia now has five great women\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they are football lovers,\u201d says the source. \u201cThey did a lot to help change Iran for all the right reasons. These are the change makers, the playmakers. They\u2019re the heart and soul of the country, because sports and women in sports was something that they tried taking away from us many times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to integrate to society and make a positive impact. I know Australian women have been doing the same over the last few decades. We all are fighting the same struggle, but for them it\u2019s the struggle to wean off this whole Islamic ideology. It\u2019s not part of us.<\/p>\n

\"Iranian<\/p>\n

Iranian footballer Mona Hamoudi attempts to get away from a Sydney FC opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWearing the hijab is mandatory. We have to wear it. So we\u2019ve always had not just the internal pressure on our shoulders, but also the external pressure on us. Most of the girls have short hair. They have to cut their hair to feel lighter under their hijab, which is very heavy. These girls\u2019 profession is football players, so every little ounce counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always had to fight to get the jerseys or the gear or the kit. Or fight to get better quality of just material. Imagine wearing polyester from head to toe. The sweat doesn\u2019t drain, and you\u2019re just sitting there wearing these extra kilos of clothes. If these girls do play on a team in Australia, just watch the difference. But we were willing to do it and accept it just so we could play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese girls would have never decided to stay unless they really had to. They had everything for themselves back home. Great salary, their family, their friends, they have everything there. This decision was not made lightly, and these girls have seen and been through it all in Iran – and Iran is a beautiful country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fourth may have been the impossible decision of whether to stay in Australia and start a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-534952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}