Five Iran women’s team members return after dropping Australia asylum bids | OneFootball

Four players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, and one staff member who had sought asylum in Australia crossed back into Iran via the Gürbulak-Bazargan post on Wednesday after withdrawing their applications.

They had flown into Igdir in eastern Türkiye, then boarded a coach for more than 100 kilometres to the frontier. According to L'Équipe, they were wearing Iran’s national team tracksuits. Bazargan is nearly 900 km by road from Tehran.

Last Wednesday they reached Kuala Lumpur from Australia, where they had played Asian Cup matches in early March. They flew to Oman on Monday, then to Istanbul on Tuesday. At Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday, one player said she missed her family.

On Wednesday, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X, praising the players and staff as children of the homeland embraced by the Iranian people, and saying they had disappointed the Islamic Republic’s enemies by resisting what he described as anti-Iran deception and intimidation.

In total, seven members of the women’s delegation, six players and one staff member, had initially sought asylum in Australia after being branded traitors at home for refusing to sing the national anthem before a match, amid war between Iran and the United States and Israel. Only two players have remained in Australia.

Human rights groups have accused Iranian authorities of pressuring athletes abroad by threatening relatives or property if they defect or criticise the state, while Iranian officials have accused Australia of pressuring the players to stay.

Source: L'Équipe