KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Iranian women’s soccer players left Malaysia on Monday night for Oman, ending days of uncertainty after five of the seven squad members who had sparked a diplomatic furor by seeking asylum in Australia reversed their decisions and rejoined the team in Kuala Lumpur, the Associated Press reported.
The players spent several hours at the airport checking in and waiting for their flight. The report said they declined to speak to reporters, with some chatting and others using their mobile phones. It also reported that one player knelt several times and prayed on a mat before boarding, while Iran embassy staff at the airport refused to comment.
Windsor John, the Asian Football Confederation general secretary, earlier told The Associated Press that the team’s departure was arranged by the Iranian embassy. John said the AFC, which is supporting the Iranian team in Kuala Lumpur, was told the women are flying to Oman, though he said he was not aware of their full travel plans and that Oman is not their final destination.
John said the AFC and FIFA will check up on the players regularly with the Iranian football federation, describing them as “as they are our girls as well.” Earlier at a news conference, he said the confederation had not received any direct complaints from players about returning home, despite media reports that their families in Iran could face retaliation for the team failing to sing the national anthem before the opening match.
“We couldn’t verify anything. We asked them and they said, ‘No, it’s OK,’” John said. The report said he added: “They are actually in high spirits… they didn’t look afraid.”
According to the report, the squad flew from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on March 10 after being knocked out of the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia. It said that earlier, the asylum-related developments left behind six players and a support staff member who had accepted protection visas—described in the report as visas that allow people who arrived on a valid visa and wanted to seek asylum in Australia to stay in the country permanently.
The report said four players and the staffer have since rejoined the team in Kuala Lumpur, with the latest arriving on Monday. It also said no reasons were given for the “changes of heart,” adding that the Iranian diaspora in Australia blames pressure from Tehran.
The report said two players remained in Australia. Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite described the situation in Australia as “very complex,” and said the government respects the decisions of those who chose to return while continuing to offer support to the two players who stayed. He said the two women had been moved to an undisclosed safe location and were receiving assistance from the government and the Iranian diaspora community.
Iranian authorities welcomed the women’s decisions to reject asylum as a victory against Australia and President Donald Trump, the report said. It noted that Iran’s squad arrived in Australia shortly before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28, which complicated travel arrangements.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a political scientist at Macquarie University in Sydney who spent more than two years in Iranian prisons on spying charges from 2018 to 2020, said in the report that “winning the propaganda war” had overshadowed the women’s welfare. She said the “high stakes” made the Iranian regime “sit up and pay attention” and “try to force their hand,” and added that if the women had “quietly sought asylum without that publicity” it was possible officials might have allowed it, referencing cases of other Iranian sportspeople who had defected in the past.
The report said Iran’s Tasnim News Agency described the players who left Australia as “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland,” describing the return as a failure of what it called an American-Australian political effort. It also said safety concerns increased when the players did not sing the Iranian national anthem, which was reported in different ways, and that the team did not clarify their choice but sang at the opening of a later match.
Australia’s government was urged to help the women by Iranian groups in Australia and by Trump, the report said. It added that Iran’s embassy in Canberra remains staffed even though Australia expelled the ambassador last year. The report said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in August after announcing that intelligence officials concluded that the Revolutionary Guard directed arson attacks on a Sydney kosher food company and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue in 2024.
Kambiz Razmara, the vice president of the Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria, told the report that the women who accepted asylum had been under pressure from the Iranian regime, saying they had to make decisions quickly with very little information and react to the circumstances. The report said he was surprised by their choice to go but said he understood the pressures the women were experiencing.