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At least six members of the Iranian women’s soccer team have decided to stay in Australia and seek asylum rather than return to their home country, where they face war and the possibility of worse if they decide to return.
Five of the six team members were granted asylum on Tuesday. Two others also applied for asylum, but one of them changed his mind. More than 20 team members came to Australia to compete in the Women’s Asian Cup.
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Members of the Iranian women’s national football team appear at Kuala Lumpur International Airport after attending an AFC Women’s Asian Cup Group A match in Australia, in Sepang, Malaysia, on March 11, 2026. (REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain)
Tina Kordrostami, a councilor for the city of Ryde in Australia, told Pak Gazette in an interview on Wednesday that the reason most of the girls decided to return was because of their families.
“So, their family is the number one reason the girls want to come home and the number one thing that worries them and scares them,” she said. “The second thing, as I mentioned, is that everything they have is in Iran, and they are afraid of their identity and of losing everything they have built over the last few years for it.
“I know for a fact that they don’t want to live there. They are passionate athletes. They are women who, you know, have a lot to say about their identity and who they are. And because they are in the public eye inside Iran, they are restricted even more than others. No logical person would want to stay in that country, especially if they have the option to stay. You know, they had it so close that it was offered to them. And they were so close to having everything they wanted. And yet they chose their family over their own, to live their own future.”
The team arrived in Australia before Israel and the United States launched a joint offensive against Iran on February 28. The attacks led to the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iranian players refused to sing their national anthem before their opening loss to South Korea last Monday, seen by some as an act of resistance, which was called by one Iranian commentator the “pinnacle of dishonour.” The team did not clarify. But the players sang the anthem and saluted before their losses to Australia and the Philippines.
Members of the Iranian women’s national football team arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 1 after attending a Group A match of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, in Sepang, Malaysia, on March 11, 2026. (REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain)
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As their time in the tournament came to an end, the possibility of at least some of the players applying for a humanitarian visa became a reality.
Kordrostami told Pak Gazette he believed the Australian government could have done more.
“There is one thing I think the government should have done: Immediately after the first match, they should have gone into the girls’ hotel, they should have sat with them,” he said. “Running out all the security, all the staff they had there with them, key official figures within our government as well. They should have sat down with these girls and explained everything to them.
“They should have reached out to the diaspora and gotten all the contacts of the families. They should have allowed them to have a clear and open conversation with their families within that room for as long as they needed… In one day, they should have made a plan for these girls to seek safety for their families… Today I am not happy at all. I am very sad. I am very worried. And I just know that if we were not so limited by our rules and regulations, we could have held on to the whole team.”
Kordrostami highlighted the importance of what the women who left the team did.
“I want more people to talk about these girls,” she said. “These girls are a window to Iran for us, so that we all understand exactly what people are experiencing. The control, the coercion, the restrictions, the limitations, this is the reality for 90 million people inside that country.”
Australian officials stressed they made every effort to give the Iranian team the option to stay.
In this photo provided by Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office, Minister Tony Burke, center, poses at an undisclosed location with five Iranian soccer players who have been granted asylum in Australia, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Australian Home Office via AP)
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the possibility of the players considering asylum came down to last-minute talks at Sydney airport, where the women were separated from their caregivers and had time to call their families.
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“It was all about ensuring the dignity of those people to make a decision,” he said. “We couldn’t take away the pressure of context from these individuals, of what they might have been told beforehand, of the pressures they might have felt on other family members.”
