Two more members of Iranian soccer cohort given asylum

It brings to seven the number of women involved with the soccer team who have been granted asylum in Australia following their exit from the Asian Cup.

There are fears for the team's safety on their return to Iran after they were labelled "wartime traitors" by Iranian state media for refusing to sing the national anthem before their opening match.

Mr Burke said the two granted asylum were reunited with the first five in Sydney overnight.

"I made them the same offer that I made the five players the night before ... if they wanted to receive a humanitarian visa for Australia, which would have a pathway to a permanent visa, I had the paperwork ready to execute that immediately," he told reporters in Canberra.

"They both said they did. I signed off on that and asked the department to start processing straight away."

Officials did not want to rush processes or put pressure on any members of the team to seek asylum, Mr Burke said.

"Australia's objective here was not to force people to make a particular decision," he said.

"We're not that sort of nation. What we wanted to make sure of was that sometimes, possibly for the first time, these individuals were meeting a government that said, 'the choice is up to you'."

The team had left a Gold Coast hotel on Tuesday afternoon under police guard with one player appearing to be dragged by a teammate onto the bus, according to a video published by Nine newspapers.

Protesters tried to block the bus from leaving for the airport.

Demonstrators opposed to the Iranian government also appeared at Sydney airport on Tuesday evening.

The team members previously confirmed to be staying in Australia were captain Zahra Ghanbari and players Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramezanizadeh and Mona Hamoudi.

Iranian refugee advocate Ara Rasuli, who was involved with the asylum process, said the Australian government had "opened every avenue for the girls to stay here and to be protected".

The players who returned to Iran possibly faced execution, and their families faced retaliation from the regime, she said.

"They are in a lot of danger," Ms Rasuli said.

"There are all sorts of different threats, such as taking the families into custody, taking over their assets ... and that's why most of the girls are choosing to go back home, because the threats are a big issue in this matter."

Retired Socceroos captain and human rights activist Craig Foster called for reform of global sport governance, as women continued to be placed in similar situations far too often.

"There will have to be accountability by the Asian Football Confederation and by FIFA as to what did not occur, what processes were not in place ... this should have been avoidable," he told AAP.

"It was foreseeable before the tournament. What has happened is neither uncommon ... and was preventable."