{"id":16903,"date":"2026-03-11T03:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=16903"},"modified":"2026-03-11T03:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:56:10","slug":"seven-members-of-irans-womens-football-team-have-sought-asylum-abc-understands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=16903","title":{"rendered":"Seven members of Iran\u2019s women\u2019s football team have sought asylum, ABC understands"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least seven members of Iran’s women’s football team have now\u00a0sought asylum in Australia<\/a>, the ABC understands.<\/p>\n

Five of the 13-player squad were granted asylum on Monday, amid\u00a0fears they would face persecution<\/a>\u00a0if they returned home.<\/p>\n

Sources have told the ABC that figure has now risen to at least two more, including one who is understood to have refused to board a flight at Sydney airport at the last minute.<\/p>\n

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who was at the airport, said border force made multiple representations to the team before departing Sydney, including in private meetings.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Home Affairs minister Tony Burke with five Iranian women football players who applied for asylum after competing in the Women’s Asia Cup tournament being played in Australia.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0AFP PHOTO \/ DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“Every single \u2026 member of that team was put in a situation where they were just with Home Affairs officials, where the people who might put pressure on them were nowhere near them at all, and they were given a choice,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I respect their independence and agency with whatever decision they chose.”<\/p>\n

Acknowledging concerns some may have about their family’s welfare if they were to defect, Bourke said the players were given the opportunity to speak with loved ones.<\/p>\n

“People could contact family members, they had all the time that they needed and we also made sure that there wasn’t pressure from us,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We never told anyone it was time to end the meeting. If people wanted to stay and keep talking and miss that plane, they had agency to do that, as well.”<\/p>\n

The team had been labelled “traitors” on Iranian state television after a number of players\u00a0refused to sing the national anthem<\/a>\u00a0before their opening match with South Korea at the Women’s Asian Cup earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Under the Islamic Republic’s penal code, corruption or treason can lead to lengthy prison sentences or the death penalty.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the time said the government was willing to provide assistance to other women in the team.<\/p>\n

Supporters broke into cheers when word spread that a further two players had chosen to stay in Australia.<\/p>\n

– ABC<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least seven members of Iran’s women’s football team have now\u00a0sought asylum in Australia, the ABC understands. Five of the 13-player squad were granted asylum on Monday, amid\u00a0fears they would face persecution\u00a0if they returned home. Sources have told the ABC that figure has now risen to at least two more, including one who is understood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-world"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16905,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16903\/revisions\/16905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}