The Iranian women's national football team landed at Istanbul Airport late on March 17 after several members of the delegation withdrew their asylum bids in Australia and decided to return home.
Footage from Turkish news agency DHA showed the players, wearing Iranian national team tracksuits, walking through the arrivals area at Istanbul Airport.
The players arrived in Türkiye via Oman and Kuala Lumpur, having left Australia where they were competing in the Asian Cup.
"I am missing my family," one of them told AFP at Kuala Lumpur Airport.
According to DHA, the players left Istanbul Airport under police escort and headed to a hotel in the city.
They will return to Iran on March 18, the Turkish news agency reported.
Seven members of the delegation had sought asylum in Australia last week after they were branded "traitors" at home for refusing to sing the national anthem at their opening Women's Asian Cup game.
Only two remain in Australia after the others changed their minds.
"The female football players and technical teams are children of the homeland, and the people of Iran embrace them," Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X on March 18.
