Amid the ongoing conflicts and heightened tensions, the Iranian women’s team decided to continue their campaign and represent their nation on the world stage. The team played their first match of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 against South Korea, held at the Robina Stadium on Monday, March 2. The players showed courage, holding back their tears and emotions during the national anthem.
Ahead of the match, Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari refused to comment on the matter. The military strikes done by Israel and the United States had led to the death of their country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian’s, however, lost the match to South Korea by a score of 0-3. The goal scorers of the Koreans were Choe Yu-ri, Kim Hye-ri and Ko Yoo-jin. Despite the loss, Iran moves ahead in the tournament and will play their next match against Australia on Thursday, March 5.
Iran vs. South Korea match highlights
In the opening half, the South Koreans earned early dominance but could not end up in adding it to any advantage. The 2022 runners-up of the tournament earned one when the Iranian team had to bench Afsaneh Chatrenoor due to an injury. With that, Choe Yu-ri gets a rebound and gets her team their first score of the match after 37 minutes.
The second half was the same as the Koreans continued their momentum through strong teamwork. Kim Hye-ri gets the second goal through a penalty after going an hour into the match. 15 minutes later, Ko Yoo-jin gets the third for the team in 75 minutes of the match, and the team seals the win for themselves. The victory was an unexpected one for South Korea. They now sit in the top spot of the Group A table with Australia behind them who defeated the Philippines in their opening match by 1-0, played on Sunday, March 1.
South Korea is currently in the No. 21 spot in FIFA world rankings, while the Iranians sit at No. 68. The South Koreans had finished as runners-up in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asia Cup after losing against China by 3-2. The victory got China their ninth title of the tournament.
