Seven members of the Iranian soccer delegation sought asylum, with 4 now recognized to have withdrawn purposes.
Printed On 14 Mar 2026
Two extra Iranian feminine footballers and a member of their help employees have reportedly withdrawn requests for asylum in Australia, which had been granted over fears they may be punished upon their return home after the crew refused to sing Iran’s nationwide anthem on the Asian Cup match.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported on Saturday that the three had “given up on their asylum software in Australia and are at present heading to Malaysia”, posting an image of the ladies allegedly boarding a airplane.
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The information was confirmed on Sunday morning in a press release from Australia’s Residence Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
“In a single day, three members of the Iranian Ladies’s Soccer Staff made the choice to affix the remainder of the crew on their journey again to Iran,” Burke mentioned.
“After telling Australian officers that they had made this choice, the gamers got repeated possibilities to speak about their choices.”
The Iranian crew has been in Australia to take part in a soccer match held within the Gold Coast Stadium in Queensland, when the USA and Israel launched their struggle on Iran on February 28.
The preliminary assault killed Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and different leaders.
General, an estimated 1,444 Iranians have been killed because the struggle started, together with greater than 170 folks, largely schoolgirls, who had been inside a primary school within the metropolis of Minab.
After refusing to sing the Iranian nationwide anthem at their first match, gamers on the Iranian girls’s soccer crew had been branded “traitors” by an IRIB presenter.
In feedback that went viral, the presenter mentioned that the gamers’ actions amounted to the “pinnacle of dishonour” and that they need to be “handled extra severely”.
The feedback prompted FIFPRO, the worldwide organisation representing skilled footballers, to induce FIFA and AFC to “undertake all needed steps” for the Iranian players’ protection, as fears for their safety mounted after Australian media reported they had been being monitored by Iranian authorities officers.
Five of the players, together with captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the crew lodge beneath the duvet of darkness to say asylum in Australia. A sixth participant and a help staffer claimed asylum earlier than the remainder of the crew flew out of Sydney earlier this week.
However one of many gamers withdrew her request earlier within the week and linked up with the remainder of the crew, who had been believed to nonetheless be within the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, awaiting their return to Iran.
Minister Burke informed lawmakers that the participant, later recognized as Mohadese Zolfigol, modified her choice on the recommendation of her teammates and was “inspired to contact the Iranian embassy”.
Iran’s governing soccer physique has accused Australia of kidnapping the gamers and forcing them to forsake their dwelling nation towards their will.
