Jakarta - Australian government in recent days was asked to grant asylum for Iranian women's footballers, considering life-threatening they may face once return home, following their action of did not sing their national anthem during the first match in Australian on 2 March 2026.
Iranian women's national football team has been in Australia for AFC's women football qualification as it's in Group A with Australia, the Philippines, and South Korea.
On the first match with South Korea, Iranian women footballers did not sing their national anthem, triggering harsh reactions domestically, saying that they are "traitors" to the country, especially when Iran is at war with United States and Israel.
Domestically, threats for them to get harsh punishment when arrived may be serious, although in the last two matches the footballers sang their national anthem.
Iran's national team lost all of their three games, the last with Filipinos on Sunday, 8 March in a stadium in Gold Coast, Australia.
After the macth that Iran lost 0-2 to Philippines, supporters saw some of the players sent palm-distress signal from inside the bus that was taken them to their hotel. Supporters rushed to blockade the bus, chanting "save our girls".
Iranian diaspora in Australia along with the people of Australia, particularly human rights defenders in recent days have been calling their government to consider granting asylum for those Iranian footballers due to safety concerns.
