MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A fifth member of the Iranian women’s soccer team who accepted a refugee visa to stay in Australia has left the country, the Australian government said on Monday.
The player's departure shortly before midnight on Sunday leaves two of an initial seven squad members in Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office said.
Burke reported on Sunday that two players and a team support staff member had left Sydney for Malaysia on Saturday.
Iran’s team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28.
Initially, six players and a support staff member from a squad list of 26 players accepted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia before the rest of the Iranian contingent flew from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on March 10.
Another later changed her mind and left Australia.
The rest of the team has remained in Kuala Lumpur since they left Australia.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said the three left Australia on Saturday and that they were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland.”
Concerns about the team’s safety in Iran heightened when the players didn’t sing the Iranian national anthem before their first match.
The Australian government was urged to help the women by Iranian groups in Australia and by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Iranian news agency described the women’s return to the team as the “disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump.”
Some members of the Iranian diaspora in Australia have accused the support staffer who initially accepted asylum then left Australia on Saturday of spreading Iranian government propaganda to her teammates via text messages.
Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria vice-president Kambiz Razmara said the women who accepted asylum had been under pressure from the Tehran regime.
“They’ve had to make decisions at the spur of the moment with very little information and they’ve had to react to the circumstance,” Razmara told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“I’m surprised that they’ve decided to go, but I’m actually not surprised because I appreciate the pressures that they’re experiencing,” he added.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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