Fifteen seek asylum in Australia after Homeless World Cup: reports

Fifteen players in the Homeless World Cup football tournament, including athletes from Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, have sought asylum in Australia, news reports said Wednesday.

The Australian Department of Immigration confirmed that 15 players in the event that Afghanistan won in Melbourne on Sunday had applied for “further visas”, but declined to state whether the players had formally sought asylum.

“As of December 9, 15 applications for further visas have been lodged by participants of the Homeless World Cup,” a spokesman told AFP.

“We are, however, in no position to pass comment on what kind of visas those applications were for,” he added, citing reasons of confidentiality.

The Herald Sun in Melbourne reported that “at least” 15 players were seeking asylum in Australia, including eight players from Afghanistan and seven from Zimbabwe.

In addition, the entire Liberian women's team was also believed to have missed flights out of the country after the tournament closed on Sunday, while a Kenyan player was still missing, according to The Age.

The “active visas” for the more than 400 players from 56 teams who came to Melbourne for the event will run out in 10 days. Immigration officials said no players were currently in violation of their visa conditions.

Organisers of the event said they had seen reports of Homeless World Cup asylum seekers but could not confirm that players were seeking to stay.

“We are not across the process in any way and have no further information,” spokeswoman Natalie Sussman told AFP.

Homeless World Cup international spokeswoman Kat Byles told the Herald Sun that 15 African players went missing in Denmark after the previous event and that she expected there would be pleas for asylum in Australia.

“It's something that happens in international events,” she told the paper.

Forty athletes and officials sought asylum in Australia following the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, while 250 pilgrims applied for asylum after July's World Youth Day festivities in Sydney.

Afghanistan beat Russia 5-4 to win the Homeless World Cup, an annual event aimed at raising awareness of the issue.