Iran War Impact Sports: Australia took a big step amid the war in the Middle East, gave asylum to five Iranian female footballers

Brisbane: Australia’s Home Minister Tony Burke said on Tuesday that his country has given asylum to five members of the women’s football team who came from Iran for the tournament. In the early hours of Tuesday local time, Australian Federal Police officers transported these Iranian female players from their hotel on Australia’s Gold Coast to “a safe place”.

Burke later told reporters in Brisbane that the women players met him there and their visa process was completed on humanitarian grounds. The Iranian team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, just before the start of the Iran war. The team was eliminated from the tournament over the weekend after which the team had to return to their country where the situation is bad due to the war.

Iran head coach Marzieh Jafari said on Sunday that the players “want to return to Iran as soon as possible”, Australia’s national news agency AAP reported.