{"id":528603,"date":"2026-03-17T10:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/528603\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T10:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:52:09","slug":"2-iran-players-granted-protection-visas-in-australia-practice-with-a-brisbane-club-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/528603\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Iran players granted protection visas in Australia practice with a Brisbane club team"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Two players from the Iranian women\u2019s soccer team have joined a practice session with a professional club in Brisbane in their first publicly-shared appearance since it emerged they had been granted asylum in Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh were pictured smiling and wearing the club\u2019s colors as they posed alongside a women\u2019s elite squad in photos posted to Instagram by the Brisbane Roar on Monday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Iranian<\/p>\n

Iranian soccer player\u2019s Fatemeh Pasandideh, fourth from right at front row, and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, fourth from left at front row, pose for a photo with the Brisbane Roar women\u2019s A-League team at a training session in Brisbane, Australia, Monday, March 16, 2026. (Brisbane Roar via AP)<\/p>\n

Iranian soccer player\u2019s Fatemeh Pasandideh, fourth from right at front row, and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, fourth from left at front row, pose for a photo with the Brisbane Roar women\u2019s A-League team at a training session in Brisbane, Australia, Monday, March 16, 2026. (Brisbane Roar via AP)<\/p>\n

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The update came as the rest of Iran\u2019s soccer delegation left Malaysia bound for Oman, apparently capping a tumultuous episode<\/a> that saw Australia\u2019s government offering most of the squad humanitarian visas after the team was knocked out of the Women\u2019s Asian Cup<\/a>. Seven women initially accepted the asylum offer before five changed their minds and said they would return to Iran. <\/p>\n

Brisbane Roar, which plays in Australia\u2019s elite A-League Women\u2019s domestic competition, posted a welcome to \u201cFatemeh and Atefeh\u201d on Instagram, along with an emoji of a lioness, a nod to the name the Iranian players are known by.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain committed to providing a supportive environment for them whilst they navigate the next stages,\u201d Brisbane Roar CEO Kaz Patafta wrote.<\/p>\n

Both women left comments on the post. \u201cThank you for everything,\u201d Ramezanisadeh wrote. <\/p>\n

The club declined further comment and referred all questions to Australia\u2019s Department of Home Affairs. The Roar last week offered the women \u201ca place to train, play and belong\u201d in a statement on social media.<\/p>\n

They have been moved to an undisclosed safe location and are receiving assistance from the government, officials have said. They have not given interviews but Pasandideh posted to Instagram Monday a photo of herself and FIFA Chief Football Officer Jill Ellis, overlaid with the words, \u201cEverything will be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teammates head home<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s squad had arrived in Australia for the women\u2019s continental championship shortly before the Iran war<\/a> began on Feb. 28. They drew global attention after some players stayed silent during Iran\u2019s national anthem before their first game. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Iran<\/p>\n

Iran players pose for a team photo ahead of the Women\u2019s Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt\/AAPImage via AP,File)<\/p>\n

Iran players pose for a team photo ahead of the Women\u2019s Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt\/AAPImage via AP,File)<\/p>\n

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The silence<\/a> was cast as an act of resistance or protest by some commentators and a show of mourning by others. The players didn\u2019t publicly disclose their views or explain their actions and sang the anthem before their next two matches.<\/p>\n

When the team was knocked out of the tournament and faced the prospect of returning to a country under bombardment, calls grew for Australia\u2019s government to offer the women asylum. Iranian groups in Australia and United States President Donald Trump were among those who expressed fears for the women\u2019s safety, with some citing remarks by Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, a hardline sports commentator in Iran, who on television referred to the women as \u201cwartime traitors\u201d because they didn\u2019t sing the anthem.<\/p>\n

An Iranian official last week dismissed suggestions that the women would be unsafe if they returned home. <\/p>\n

\u201cIran welcomes its children with open arms and the government guarantees their security,\u201d Iranian first Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said. \u201cNo one has the right to interfere in the family affairs of the Iranian nation and play the role of a nanny who is kinder than a mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

It follows a chaotic asylum saga<\/p>\n

Australian officials publicly divulged details of their asylum offers to the women before the Iranian delegation left Australia, which included private airport meetings with each woman without team minders present. A total of six players and one team staffer at first accepted humanitarian visas and guarantees of permanent residence in Australia, while their teammates departed Sydney for Kuala Lumpur on March 10. <\/p>\n

Over the next few days, however, five of those who accepted asylum offers changed their minds<\/a> and flew to join their teammates in Malaysia. No reasons have been given publicly for the reversals, though Australian news outlets reported that local Iranian groups as suggesting the women had faced pressure from Tehran. <\/p>\n

The remaining squad flew from Kuala Lumpur to Oman<\/a> on Monday night. The Asian Football Confederation\u2019s General Secretary Windsor John told The Associated Press<\/a> the team\u2019s departure was arranged by the Iranian embassy. <\/p>\n

Asked if the Confederation was satisfied that the women would be safe in Iran, Windsor said his organization and FIFA would check on them regularly through the Iranian football federation \u201cas they are our girls as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand. <\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRISBANE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Two players from the Iranian women\u2019s soccer team have joined a practice session with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[10987,1246,237695,12,7183,793,801,237696,228242,237698,233837,237697,403,99,1765,25450,965],"class_list":["post-528603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-asylum","tag-australia","tag-australia-national-soccer-team","tag-donald-trump","tag-fifa","tag-general-news","tag-iran","tag-iran-national-soccer-team","tag-iran-war","tag-jill-ellis","tag-mohammad-reza-aref","tag-mohammad-reza-shahbazi","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-womens-sports","tag-womens-soccer","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528603","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=528603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}