{"id":238251,"date":"2026-08-06T10:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/238251\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T10:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:26:14","slug":"iranian-womens-soccer-stars-granted-australian-citizenship-after-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/238251\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian women’s soccer stars granted Australian citizenship after asylum"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Two members of the Iranian women\u2019s soccer team who claimed asylum<\/a> in Australia in March have been granted citizenship.<\/p>\n

Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh<\/a> said in a statement Thursday that Immigration Minister Tony Burke swore them in the day before at a citizenship ceremony in their Australian home city of Brisbane.<\/p>\n

Friends and supporters from the local Iranian community attended the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday was a truly special and unforgettable day for me. I feel proud and deeply grateful to become an Australian citizen. Australia has given me the opportunity to build my life and my future, and I feel, more than ever, that I belong here,\u201d Ramezanisadeh said in the statement.<\/p>\n

Ramezanisadeh said her Iranian roots and memories would always be part of her.<\/p>\n

Pasandideh said Wednesday had been \u201cone of the happiest days of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud and grateful to officially become an Australian citizen. After everything we\u2019ve been through and all the challenges we faced, this moment means more than words can express,\u201d Pasandideh said.<\/p>\n

When The Associated Press asked Burke\u2019s office for an explanation for why the women\u2019s citizenship was fast-tracked, his department said it could not comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.<\/p>\n

The Refugee Council of Australia, a nonprofit umbrella organization representing asylum-seekers, said refugees usually must live in Australia on a valid visa for four years before they can apply for citizenship.<\/p>\n

Their citizenship could potentially have been fast-tracked under Australian law to make them eligible to play soccer for Australia.<\/p>\n

The Iranians joined Brisbane Roar, a soccer team which plays in Australia\u2019s elite A-League Women\u2019s domestic competition, after they were granted asylum when Iran dropped out of the Women\u2019s Asia Cup that Australia hosted.<\/p>\n

They were among seven Iranian women who initially accepted asylum<\/a>, but five changed their minds within days and returned to the team for reasons undisclosed.<\/p>\n

The team had arrived in Australia before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February.<\/p>\n

Concerns for the team\u2019s welfare at home were raised when players decided against singing the Iranian national anthem before their first match of the tournament. <\/p>\n

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Protesters demanding asylum for the team widely cited Iranian sports commentator Mohammad Reza Shahbazi calling the women \u201cwartime traitors\u201d in a television broadcast.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump used social media to call for the team to be granted asylum and telephoned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Two members of the Iranian women\u2019s soccer team who claimed asylum in Australia in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[1678,6916,1648,6914,6915,5925,38,197,1680,34,61,66701,81,2576,785,82],"class_list":["post-238251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-asylum","tag-australia","tag-australia-government","tag-brisbane","tag-citizenship","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-immigration","tag-iran","tag-iran-government","tag-mohammad-reza-shahbazi","tag-politics","tag-soccer","tag-tony-burke","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117048087922906377","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}