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Former US soccer star Megan Rapinoe spoke out in support of the Iranian women’s soccer team amid the players’ trials and tribulations over the past few weeks while competing in Australia.
The Iran women’s soccer team was in Australia earlier this month to compete in the Women’s Asian Cup. Players were seen refusing to sing their country’s national anthem as the US and Israel launched a joint military campaign against the Iranian regime. The players were called “wartime traitors” by an Iranian television station for their decisions during the tournament.
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Retired American soccer player Megan Rapinoe looks on before a SheBelieves Cup match against Colombia at Sports Illustrated Stadium on March 7, 2026 in Harrison, New Jersey. (Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)
Australian officials then raced to try to get the players asylum in the country. At least two players stayed in Australia while the rest of the team came back to Iran.
Rapinoe praised the women’s “bravery and courage”.
“I’m just thinking about this in the context of the tremendous pressure that these young adults and these young women are under to make a decision like this,” she said on the “A Touch More” podcast. “Like the incredible courage and bravery it would take to know what that could potentially mean for their family back home. The bravery and courage to protest the national anthem, basically in protest of the Iranian regime and not sing the national anthem during a fight. The stress and uncertainty they face – their family, their loved ones back home. What does that mean for their home?
“Of course I fully support their decisions to seek asylum and to seek a better life and to try to escape an incredibly oppressive regime in that situation. I don’t know what happens to them and why some of them left and whatever it is. I hope that those who returned home did so under their own free will and choice and that their families are safe and that they have the hope that I have chosen. I feel a sense of peace and hope of a potential for a new life in Australia or something else.
Iran players react during their national anthem ahead of the Women’s Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAP photo via AP)
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Rapinoe added that she was “honored by their courage.”
The former American soccer star was investigated for not speaking out while the saga unfolded in the country. Piers Morgan was among those who branded Rapinoe “hypocritical”.
“The silence over this from Rapinoe, and so many supposed ‘feminists’ like her, is so telling, damning and hypocritical,” he wrote in a social media post. “They would rather campaign for biological males to destroy women’s sport than campaign for these heroic young sportswomen to help save their lives.”
She didn’t address her critics in her latest podcast episode with Sue Bird.
Initially, seven of the Iranian women’s soccer players accepted asylum, but turned around and declined the opportunity at the last minute. Two players who stayed were seen training with one of the country’s leading clubs last week.
The Australian government faced criticism for not working quickly enough to get to the players.
“We ended up with an outcome that is certainly far from ideal,” Graham Thom, an advocacy coordinator for the Refugee Council of Australia, told The Associated Press.
FILE – Iran players pose for a team photo ahead of the Women’s Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia on Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAPImage via AP, File)
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“Hopefully the two that are left will get the protection they need, but we just hope that those that have returned are safe as well.”
