Australian authorities removed five members of Iran’s women’s national football team from their hotel before granting them asylum, Interior Minister Tony Burke disclosed on Tuesday, revealing new details about their escape from Iranian government handlers.
The players sought protection after being labelled “wartime traitors” for refusing to sing Iran’s national anthem before an Asian Cup match.
The situation unfolded during the team’s Asian Cup campaign, which coincided with U.S. and Israeli air strikes on Iran. Australian media reported that Iranian government officials had been accompanying the team and closely monitoring their movements.
Burke said discussions with the players about asylum had taken place over several days before the final decision was made.
Those granted asylum are team captain Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali Alishah, Mona Hamoudi, Atefeh Ramezanizadeh — all in their early 30s — and 21-year-old Fatemeh Pasandideh.
According to Burke, the Australian Federal Police relocated the five players to a secure location on Monday evening, where they remain under protection.
Even prior to their defection, Australian authorities had already stationed officers to ensure the players’ safety.
“There’s been a good police presence at different points and we just made sure that opportunity was there,” he said. Once immigration officials completed the processing of the women’s humanitarian visas around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday (1530 GMT Monday), celebrations broke out among those present.
“Once everything had been signed off last night, there were lots of photos, lots of celebrating, and then a spontaneous outcry of ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi’,” Burke said.
“These women are great athletes, great people, and they’re going to feel very much at home in Australia.”
Four of the players are teammates at the Bam Khatoon club, the most successful team in Iranian women’s football with a record 11 national titles. Ghanbari previously played for the club before transferring to Persepolis this season. In 2024, the captain was suspended for several days after her hijab — the head covering mandatory for Iranian women players — slipped off during a goal celebration in an Asian Champions League match.
The 33-year-old striker, Iran’s all-time leading scorer in women’s international football, was permitted to resume playing only after she and Bam Khatoon issued formal apologies.
During Iran’s final Asian Cup match against the Philippines on Sunday — a defeat that ended the team’s tournament run — Ghanbari’s headscarf reportedly slipped several times again. Burke added that the offer of asylum remains available to the remaining 21 members of the Iranian squad currently staying at a hotel on the Gold Coast, though he indicated that some may ultimately return to Iran.
“These women have been weighing up an incredibly difficult decision,” he said.
