Branded as ‘wartime traitors’ at home, Iran women’s team salute national anthem before heartbreaking Asian Cup exit | Football News
3 min readMar 8, 2026 06:37 PM IST The Iranian women’s football team was eliminated from the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday after losing its final group match to the Philippines. What stood out during the game was that days after players of the Iran team were branded as “wartime traitors” on state television back home for staying mum during the national anthem, players not only sang, but also saluted during the national anthem on Sunday. The 2-0 defeat at Gold Coast Stadium on Sunday sealed the Iran team’s fate because they needed to defeat Philippines to keep their hopes of making it to the Asian Cup quarterfinals afloat. When the team had left Iran for Australia to participate in the Women’s Asian Cup, their country was not at war against the USA and Israel. The situation changed after the USA and Israel launched air strikes on their homeland on February 28, which resulted in the death of Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. And despite the geographical distance between Iran and Australia, the players …
