Zahra Ghanbari (; 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 Zahra Ghanbari was born on 4 March 1992 in Kangavar, Kermanshah, Iran. Kermanshah is the largest Kurdish-populated city in Iran and one of the most significant urban centres of Kurdish culture in the region, and Ghanbari is Kurdish.
Club career 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.
In Iran, she has played for Bam Khatoon F.C. (formerly known as Shahrdari Bam) since at least 2013. She played for in 2020/2021.
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. 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.
She moved to Persepolis in 2025.
International career Ghanbari is Iran's national team's all-time top goalscorer.
She played for the international team in the following tournaments (number of goals in parentheses): AFC Women's Asian Cup 2008 (1), 2018 (6), 2022 (0) AFC U-19 Women's Championship 2009 (2) Women's Olympic Football Tournament 2020 (6) AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 (0) AFC Women's Asian Cup 2026
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), 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. The Australian Government granted humanitarian visas to the players. On 15 March, Iranian state media reported that Ghanbari had withdrawn her asylum application and would return to Iran via Malaysia.
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".
Career statistics
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1. 4 October 2011 Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE 8–1 8–1 2011 WAFF Women's Championship 2. 5 April 2017 Vietnam YFT Center, Hanoi, Vietnam 1–0 6–0 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification 3. 9 April 2017 1–0 1–6 4. 11 April 2017 1–0 12–0 5. 5–0 6. 9–0 7. 11–0 8. 8 November 2018 Institute of Physical Education Stadium, Chonburi, Thailand 2–0 8–0 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament 9. 4–0 10. 6–0 11. 25 November 2018 Milliy Stadium, Tashkent, Uzbekistan 1–0 6–0 2018 CAFA Women's Championship 12. 3–0 13. 6 April 2019 Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium, Al Wakrah, Qatar 7–0 9–0 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament 14. 8–0 15. 9 April 2019 Grand Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar 1–4 1–4 16. 15 November 2022 Ararat Stadium, Tehran, Iran 1–0 1–1 Friendly 17. 10 June 2025 National Football Center Field 2, Tehran, Iran 3–0 8–0 18. 5–0 19. ?–0 20. 10 July 2025 King Abdullah II Stadium, Amman, Jordan 4–0 4–0 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification 21. 13 July 2025 5–1 7–1 22. 24 October 2025 Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong, India 2–0 3–0 Friendly
References
External links