{"id":515298,"date":"2026-03-10T16:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/515298\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T16:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:21:10","slug":"more-members-of-the-iranian-womens-soccer-team-seek-asylum-as-most-of-squad-leaves-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/515298\/","title":{"rendered":"More members of the Iranian women\u2019s soccer team seek asylum as most of squad leaves Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Seven members of the Iranian women\u2019s soccer<\/a> team have remained in Australia, while the rest of the squad has now left the country for Iran, a source has told CNN Sports<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Earlier on Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that five players had been granted humanitarian visas<\/a>, amid fears over their safety should they return to Iran.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now, a source close to the squad has told CNN Sports that another two members of the team \u2013 a player and a member of staff \u2013 have also sought asylum in Australia.\n <\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, the rest of the team is now believed to have left the country, heading back to Iran. It\u2019s not yet clear which route they will take or when they will arrive.\n <\/p>\n

\n An observer at the scene told CNN that people gathered outside the hotel where the squad was staying on Tuesday had tried to stop the team bus from leaving for Gold Coast Airport in Queensland, Australia.\n <\/p>\n

\n The person at the hotel also said that one of the players looked to be crying as what appeared to be security guards escorted the team onto the bus.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Iranian women\u2019s soccer team was in Australia after playing in the Women\u2019s Asian Cup last week, where it lost all three of its group stage matches to exit the tournament.\n <\/p>\n

\n Before their first match of the tournament on March 2, the Lionesses players stood silent during the playing of their national anthem, a gesture they didn\u2019t explain but one that was interpreted by some hardliners inside Iran as a sign of treason.\n <\/p>\n

\"Iran<\/p>\n

\n Sources close to the team told CNN Sports they were then forced under threats to their families to sing the national anthem ahead of their next two group games. There are now fears the squad will face persecution back in Iran.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Tuesday, according to Iranian state media, Iran\u2019s Attorney General\u2019s office encouraged the women\u2019s team to return home.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSome hardworking members of our women\u2019s national football team\u2014who are children of this very land\u2014acted unintentionally, influenced by emotional provocation stemming from enemy schemes and mischief,\u201d the statement said.\n <\/p>\n

\n It added: \u201cThey are invited to return to their homeland with calm and confidence. By doing so, they can not only ease the concerns of their families but also stand alongside the great and admirable people of Iran in confronting the conspiracies of the enemies of our beloved country.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, Iran\u2019s Minister of Sports Ahmad Donyamali said that \u201cenemies\u201d had tried to \u201cdistract\u201d the players from returning home with \u201ctempting offers.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey are now returning to their homeland and the warm embrace of their families,\u201d he added on Tuesday, without providing any details.\n <\/p>\n

\n After the loss in their final match of the tournament on Sunday, supporters crowded around the team bus, shouting at police to \u201csave our girls\u201d as it pulled away.\n <\/p>\n

\n Hadi Karimi, a human rights advocate and member of the local Iranian community, said supporters outside the bus could clearly see at least three players inside making the international hand signal for help.\n <\/p>\n

\"Iran<\/p>\n

\n However, a source close to the team expressed scepticism to CNN that the team members would know what the sign represents.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Monday, CNN reported that at least seven members of the team had left their Gold Coast hotel, with five of those eventually applying for asylum with the Australian Federal Police. Sports journalist Raha Pourbakhsh told CNN Sports that the families of three of those five players had been threatened.\n <\/p>\n

\n Craig Foster, a former Australian international and human rights advocate, said \u201ca vast range of organizations\u201d had tried to speak with the women during their time in Australia but had been denied the opportunity.\n <\/p>\n

\n He said as the players had been knocked out of the Women\u2019s Asian Cup, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which organizes the tournament, had a responsibility for their welfare.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN has reached out to the AFC for comment.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven members of the Iranian women\u2019s soccer team have remained in Australia, while the rest of the squad…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-515298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}