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Concerns and uncertainty have grown over the return home of the Iranian women’s football team from Australia during the Israeli-United States war and alleged threats to their safety.
Iran were knocked out of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 on Sunday when they lost their last group game against the Philippines in Gold Coast, Australia.
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However, it’s not the team’s on-field performance but their journey home that has caused a stir as the global footballers union and rights activists are urging the Australian government and tournament organisers to extend the players’ stay in the host nation.
FIFPRO, which represents professional footballers globally, said on Monday that there were serious concerns for the welfare of the Iranians as they prepared to return home after being labelled “wartime traitors” for refusing to sing their national anthem before an Asian Cup match.
Beau Busch, FIFPRO’s president for Asia and Oceania, said the union had been unable to contact the players to discuss whether they would like to seek asylum in Australia.
“The reality at the moment is that we’re unable to get in touch with the players. That’s incredibly concerning. That’s not a new thing. That’s really been since the repression really dialled up in February, January,” Busch told reporters in Australia.
“So we’re really concerned about the players, but our responsibility right now is to do everything within our power to try and make sure that they’re safe.”
Busch said the organisation was working with FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Australian government to ensure that “every bit of pressure is applied” to protect the players and give them “agency around what happens next”.
“It’s a really challenging situation,” he said.
“There may be players that want to return. There may be some players within the group that would like to seek asylum and would like to stay in Australia for longer.”
More than 66,000 people have also signed a petition calling on the Australian government to ensure the players, who are still in Queensland, do not leave “while credible fears for their safety remain”.
Australia’s Ministry of Home Affairs told Al Jazeera it would not comment on “the team’s travel plans” while the AFC did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
Images from outside the team hotel in Gold Coast showed the presence of Queensland Police Service vehicles as well as hotel security cordoning off a portion of the hotel’s entrance.
A member of hotel security stands beside a police van at the entrance to the Royal Pines Resort, where members of the Iranian women’s football team are staying [Patrick Hamilton/AFP]Players ‘eager to come back’ to Iran
While the players have not publicly aired any concerns for their own safety, they have spoken about the difficulty of playing in a tournament thousands of kilometres away from home while being “fully disconnected” from their families during the US-Israeli attacks.
Their head coach, Marziyeh Jafari, has been quoted as saying by Australian media that the players want to return to Iran “as soon as we can”.
“I want to be with my country and home. … We are eager to come back,” the Australian Associated Press quoted Jafari as saying in a postmatch news conference.
Human rights activists and members of Australia’s Iranian community voiced fears over the team’s wellbeing after the players saluted and sang the national anthem before their second and third games in the Asia Cup.
It was in contrast to their decision to remain silent as the anthem played before their first game and prompted FIFPRO to urge AFC and FIFA to protect the Iranian team after they were labelled “wartime traitors” by an Iranian state television presenter.
Iran’s players did not sing their national anthem before their first Asian Cup game [Izhar Khan/AFP]Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi said in a video that the players showed a lack of patriotism and their actions amounted to the “pinnacle of dishonour” in footage that circulated widely on social media.
“Let me just say one thing: Traitors during wartime must be dealt with more severely,” Shahbazi said.
“Anyone who takes a step against the country under war conditions must be dealt with more severely, like this matter of our women’s football team not singing the national anthem. … These people must be dealt with more severely.”
In response, FIFPRO released a strong and lengthy statement outlining its concerns.
A video on social media showed dozens of protesters chanting, “Let them go,” and slowing down the team bus as it departed the stadium after Sunday’s match. Protesters also chanted, “Save our girls,” as Australian police and security cleared the way for the team bus to leave the stadium.
Iran’s team has no further officially scheduled training or appearances in the tournament, which concludes with a final on March 21.
The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and sparking regionwide conflict as Tehran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel and other countries in the Middle East where US forces operate.
As a result of the war, 1,255 people have been killed in Iran, including 165 girls whose elementary school was targeted in the first wave of attacks.
