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Zahra Ghanbari

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Zahra Ghanbari
Ghanbari with Persepolis in 2025
Personal information
Full name Zahra Ghanbari
Date of birth (1992-03-04) 4 March 1992 (age 34)
Place of birth Kangavar, Kermanshah, Iran
Height 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position Forward[1]
Team information
Current team
 Persepolis
Number 99
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Ghaz Al-Shamal SC
2013–2025 Bam Khatoon FC
2020–2021 Vechan Kurdistan [fa]
2025– Persepolis WFC
International career‡
2008 Iran U19
2007– Iran 17 (22)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals
‡ National team caps and goals as of March 2026

Zahra Ghanbari (Persian: زهرا قنبری;[1] born 4 March 1992) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Kowsar Women Football League club Persepolis and the Iran national team. She is Iran's all-time top goalscorer.

Early life and education

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Zahra Ghanbari[2] was born on 4 March 1992[1] in Kangavar, Kermanshah, Iran.[3][1] Kermanshah is the largest Kurdish-populated city in Iran and one of the most significant urban centres of Kurdish culture in the region,[4] and Ghanbari is Kurdish.[5]

Club career

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Ghanbari has played in Iraq for the Ghaz Al-Shamal SC women's team (North Gas Sports Club) team in Kirkuk, which plays in the Iraqi Women's Football League.[1]

In Iran, she has played for Bam Khatoon F.C. (formerly known as Shahrdari Bam) since at least 2013. She played for Vechan Kurdistan [fa] in 2020/2021.[6][5]

Ghanbari played for Bam Khatoon in the 2023 AFC Women's Club Championship and the 2024–25 AFC Women's Champions League, scoring one goal in the latter tournament.[2] In November 2024, Ghanbari was briefly suspended by the Iranian federation and forced to apologise for "improper hijab" during a goal celebration at the 2024–25 AFC Women's Champions League. After being forced to apologise, she was allowed to return to the team.[7][8]

She moved to Persepolis in 2025.[8]

International career

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Ghanbari is Iran's national team's all-time top goalscorer.[9][8]

She played for the international team in the following tournaments (number of goals in parentheses):[2]

On 9 March 2026, after the national team was eliminated from the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup in Australia, Ghanbari (who played in all three games[citation needed]), along with four teammates from the Iranian women's national football team, left the team's training camp in Australia and sought asylum. This was due to concerns about possible retaliation from Iranian authorities after the team had refrained from singing the national anthem after the opening game, which was shortly after the start of the 2026 Iran war.[10] The Australian Government granted humanitarian visas to the players.[8] On 15 March, Iranian state media reported that Ghanbari had withdrawn her asylum application and would return to Iran via Malaysia.[11]

Ghanbari was one of a number of Iranians to have their assets seized by the Iranian Government, but they were released by a court decision around 12 April 2026, based on her "change in behaviour".[12]

Career statistics

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No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.4 October 2011Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE Lebanon8–18–12011 WAFF Women's Championship
2.5 April 2017Vietnam YFT Center, Hanoi, Vietnam Singapore1–06–02018 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
3.9 April 2017 Vietnam1–01–6
4.11 April 2017 Syria1–012–0
5.5–0
6.9–0
7.11–0
8.8 November 2018Institute of Physical Education Stadium, Chonburi, Thailand Lebanon2–08–02020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
9.4–0
10.6–0
11.25 November 2018Milliy Stadium, Tashkent, Uzbekistan Afghanistan1–06–02018 CAFA Women's Championship
12.3–0
13.6 April 2019Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium, Al Wakrah, Qatar Palestine7–09–02020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
14.8–0
15.9 April 2019Grand Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar Chinese Taipei1–41–4
16.15 November 2022Ararat Stadium, Tehran, Iran Belarus1–01–1Friendly
17.10 June 2025National Football Center Field 2, Tehran, Iran Iraq3–08–0
18.5–0
19.?–0
20.10 July 2025King Abdullah II Stadium, Amman, Jordan Singapore4–04–02026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
21.13 July 2025 Bhutan5–17–1
22.24 October 2025Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong, India Nepal2–03–0Friendly

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "زهرا قنبری" (in Persian). Archived from the original on 9 February 2026. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Zahra Ghanbari". Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  3. ↑ "Zahra Ghanbari". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  4. ↑ Pourhassan, Narges; Bagherabadi, Rahim (2019). "Representation of Iranian National Identity Among Kermanshah's Kurdish Intellectuals". National Studies Journal. 20 (4): 3–18.
  5. 1 2 "می خواهم دَینم را به کُردها ادا کنم (I want to give my faith to the Kurds)". Iranian Students' News Agency. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. ...the captain of the Iranian women's national football team, joined the Kurdistan team with a one-year contract ...The conditions of other clubs were better than the team and the Sanandaj team, but because I am Kurdish myself,... (via Firefox translator)
  6. ↑ "حضور برترین گلزن لیگ در تیم فوتبال وچان (The presence of the league's top scorer in the football team of Wechan)". Borna News Agency. Archived from the original on 4 April 2024. Zahra Ghanbari, the Kermanshahi striker of the municipality of Bam, last season's champion of the Premier League and the record of women's football scoring, will sign a one-year contract with the representative of Kurdistan this season. This is while there was some whispers of Ghanbari joining Sirjan Municipality, but this morning, the news of the player's agreement with Vachan Sanandaj was officially announced. (via Firefox translator)
  7. ↑ "Iranian Footballer Suspended and Forced to Apologize for Headscarf Mishap". IranWire. 1 November 2024. Archived from the original on 25 October 2025. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Healy, Jon (10 March 2026). "Who are the Iranian Women's Asian Cup players granted asylum by Australia?". ABC News. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  9. ↑ @afcasiancup; (26 December 2021). "1️⃣3️⃣ x ⚽️ Zahra Ghanbari is 🇮🇷 Team Melli Baanovaan's highest goal-scorer 🔥" – via Instagram.
  10. ↑ "Australia urged to offer Iran women's team refuge amid fears of backlash after refusing to sing anthem". The National. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  11. ↑ "Iran women's football captain withdraws Australia asylum bid: state media". France 24. Retrieved 15 March 2026.
  12. ↑ "Iran releases assets of football captain in Australia asylum row". France 24. 13 April 2026. Retrieved 13 April 2026.
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