The paperwork was done, the offer of safe asylum was signed and sealed, all Iranian women’s soccer player Golnoosh Khosravi had to do was not step on the plane.
Sydney-based Iranians in touch with the departing team said the 25-year-old was a sure bet to join a list of the women soccer players defecting from their homeland to stay in Australia.
‘She needs to talk to her mother before she makes the final decision,’ Zara Sharodin told Daily Mail during the tense hours that officials from the Department of Home Affairs made last-minute offers to disaffected players.
Five players had already been granted asylum on Monday, and as the 16 remaining transited under heavy police guard from Sydney’s domestic to international airports, deals were still being done.
The problem with Golnoosh getting her mother’s blessing to defect was ‘just getting through to her’, one Iranian at the airport said. ‘No internet, it’s hard to get through by telephone and now there’s no electricity.’
The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Tony Burke confirmed on Tuesday that one player had boarded the flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur at the last minute after speaking to family members in Iran for advice on what to do.
The Mail understands that this player was Golnoosh Khosravi, and that she had signed the relevant paperwork to stay but had then changed her mind and boarded.
‘We weren’t sure which way that person would go,’ Mr Burke said. ‘That individual, though, ultimately made their own decision [to leave].’
Ms Khosravi, who comes from Shahinshahr city in the central Iran province of Isfahan, is said to have made her decision not to stay ‘for family reasons’.
Golnoosh Khosravi had been ‘a sure bet’ to join a list of Iranian women soccer players defecting from their homeland to stay in Australia
Lionesses defender Khosravi during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup match between Iran and Australia at Gold Coast Stadium last week
Golnoosh Khosravi with her grandfather about whom she posted on Instagram that ‘amidst the scream of spectators, my heart yearns for … the smell of my mother’s food, the sound of my grandfather’s prayer’
Golnoosh Khosravi is the older colleague of player Mohaddeseh Zolfi, who actually did decide to seek asylum and not board the plane on Tuesday, but spectacularly reversed her decision on Wednesday and contacted the Iranian Embassy in Canberra.
Ms Khosravi, on her Instagram page, writes about her close family ties and affection, in particular for her grandfather.
As recently as last November, she wrote a lengthy post alongside video of herself with her grandfather and her mother in a house.
In the video, Ms Khosravi appeared relaxed as she went about family chores. In the post she compares family life with the soccer field.
‘I remain amidst the screams of the spectators, and my heart yearns for that silence of the village’s dirt streets.
‘Where the smell of my mother’s food, and the sound of my grandfather’s prayer.
‘Are stronger than any victory or defeat in my world.
‘Maybe I’m running here after a dream, but my hope for running relies on that familiar old smile.
A soccer player since the age of 10, Golnoosh became the youngest youngest Iranian woman to play abroad aged 18 she moved to Turkey in 2019 on a two-year contract
Now aged 25, Golnoosh Khosravi was expected by some to defect and stay in Australia, but she boarded the plane and is now on the way back to Iran
Five players did not sing their Iranian national anthem ahead of the match against the Philippines, leading to criticism and the defection ofteam members to Australia
‘A person should have a place where, when the sorrow of the world weighs heavily on his shoulders, he can pour himself a drink and breathe.’
Ms Khosravi, who appears to be a devout Muslim, philosophises about life and being an international soccer star.
The team defender became the youngest Iranian woman to play abroad aged 18 she moved to Turkey in 2019 on a two-year contract with the Turkish Women’s Football Premier League.
Playing soccer since the age of 10, she is known for her fast and attacking style of play.
During the Covid pandemic, Khosravi was quarantined in Turkey away from her family, and was reportedly anxious to return to Iran, where she began training at the Iranian national team camp.
Five of Ms Khosravi’s fellow team members sought asylum in Australia on Monday night after escaping the Royal Pines Hotel on the Gold Coast following criticism over their refusal to sing their country’s national anthem.
Iranian state TV labelled Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi ‘traitors’ for refused to sing the anthem before their opening match with South Korea on the Gold Coast last week.
Concerned they would face persecution if they returned home, the fugitive women were granted asylum by the Albanese Government and offered protection in safe houses.
