Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on March 16, 2026, after staying in a hotel in the Malaysian capital while awaiting the next leg of their journey home. Three more members of the Iranian women’s football team have left their asylum in Australia and decided to return home, Canberra said on March 15
The Iranian women’s national football team landed at Istanbul Airport on Tuesday after several members of the delegation withdrew their asylum bids in Australia and decided to return home.
Footage from Turkish news agency DHA showed the players, wearing Iranian national team tracksuits, walking through the arrivals area at Istanbul Airport.
The players arrived in Turkey via Oman and Kuala Lumpur, having left Australia, where they were competing in the Asian Cup.
According to DHA, the players left Istanbul Airport under police escort and headed to a hotel in the city.
They will return to Iran on Wednesday, the Turkish news agency reported.
Seven members of the delegation had sought asylum in Australia last week after they were branded “traitors” at home for refusing to sing the national anthem at their opening Women’s Asian Cup game.
Only two remain in Australia after the others changed their minds.
“The female football players and technical teams are children of the homeland, and the people of Iran embrace them,” Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X on Wednesday.
He added that they had “disappointed the enemies (of the Islamic Republic) and did not surrender to deception and intimidation by anti-Iran elements.”
Rights groups have accused Tehran of pressuring athletes abroad by threatening relatives with the seizure of property if they defect or make statements against the Islamic Republic.
Iranian authorities had previously accused Australia of pressuring the players to stay.
US President Donald Trump had also called on Australia to offer the women asylum.
