Five women leave a hotel in Australia and seek protection from the police. Five footballers who played for their country just a few days earlier. I have to let that sink in for a moment because this scene says so much about the state of our world.

The Iranian national players did not sing the national anthem at the opening game of the Asian Cup against South Korea. A silent protest that was immediately viewed as treason on Iranian state television. One commentator called them “war traitors” and demanded consequences.

Before the following games against Australia and the Philippines, the players sang again – and saluted. Anyone who believes that this happened voluntarily has not understood the mechanisms of authoritarian regimes.

Iran’s brave footballers – and the cowardly Fifa

What concerns me about this case is not just the individual fate of these women. It is the question of how football deals with its own political dimension. FIFA has been preaching for years that sport is above politics. But if players have to fear for their lives because they remain silent during an anthem, then this separation is a lie. Football has long since become a geopolitical stage, whether the associations want to admit it or not.

Australia defends players Aysl

The Australian Interior Minister Tony Burke has now reacted and defended Aysl from the five women. The other Iranian players were also invited to stay, Burke said at a press conference. “I tell the other members of the team that they will be given the same opportunity,” the minister said. “Australia has taken the Iranian women’s football team to its heart.”

You can think what you want about Trump, but his intervention shows how quickly a football tournament can turn into a football tournament diplomatic conflict becomes. Sport provides the images, politics uses them.

World football is failing Iranian women

However, the real tragedy lies deeper. These women have chosen to play football – in a country that has long denied them this right. They trained, fought, qualified. And then a moment of silence is enough to destroy everything. Refusing to sing an anthem, which would be seen as a personal decision in any other country, is becoming a state affair in Iran.

I wonder what FIFA is doing now. Whether there are statements, protective measures, some form of solidarity. Or whether people in Zurich will again point out that they do not interfere in political matters. This attitude has always been cowardly. She is cynical about women fleeing their own government.