Players on Iran’s women’s national soccer team sang their national anthem Thursday before an Asian Cup match in Australia, days after standing in silence ahead of the previous game, drawing renewed attention as war rages back home.
Before Monday’s match against South Korea at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, the Iranian players did not sing the anthem. But ahead of Thursday’s game against host nation Australia, the team stood at attention and sang. No official explanation was given for the change.
An Iranian journalist, speaking to Australian media, said the players had likely been instructed to sing. “There is no doubt the players were ordered to sing,” the reporter said. “It is completely clear that the Islamic Republic regime and the security team accompanying the players in Australia forced them to sing and salute.”
Iran’s team had arrived in Australia before the outbreak of a joint U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign on the Islamic Republic. Head coach Marzieh Jafari said the team was focused on soccer rather than politics.
“No one feels comfortable with what is happening. No one wants war,” Jafari said at a news conference. “We came here to play football.”
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Iran’s women’s national soccer team sings the national anthem before an Asian Cup match in Australia
(Photo: Izhar KHAN / AFP)
Outside the stadium, dozens of Iranian Australians staged a protest, waving Israeli flags, Australian flags and flags associated with Iran’s pre-1979 Islamic Revolution monarchy.
On the field, Iran was handed a 4–0 routing by the Matildas. The result leaves the team needing a victory over the Philippines on Sunday to keep alive its chances of advancing to the knockout stage.
The anthem episode echoed a similar moment at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, when Iran’s men’s national team stood silent during the anthem before their opening match against England but later sang before their next game against Wales. That incident came amid nationwide protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died while in custody after being detained by the country’s morality police.
Separately, some Iranian athletes and public figures have voiced support for strikes against Iran’s leadership.
Iranian chess player Mitra Hejazipour also expressed support for the conflict and praised the deaths of senior Iranian officials. In posts online, she described the wife of Iran’s supreme leader as a “trash bag” and called those mourning his death “mentally ill.”
First published: 18:16, 03.05.26