"We penalized the players because they left the team before the qualifying campaign was complete. They put their personal interest ahead of the interest of the team and the fans," said Tariq Ahmed, the deputy secretary general of the Iraqi soccer federation, on Friday.

The four — Ali Mansour, Ali Khidhayyir, Ali Abbas and assistant coach Saadi Toma, apparently remain in Australia. At the time they left their team, an Australian official said the players still had valid visas and had not yet applied for asylum. Regular visas are for three months, so the players have time before they need to submit asylum applications.

Iraqi athletes and sports officials have been frequent targets of violence — threats, kidnappings and assassination attempts that are either part of retaliatory violence between Shiites and Sunnis or for ransom.

The four disappeared in Sydney last month, one day after Iraq lost to Australia 2-0 in a Group A qualifying match for next year's Olympic Games in Beijing. Australia drew 1-1 at North Korea the following week to top the group with 12 points, one ahead of Iraq, which failed to qualify despite a 5-2 win against Lebanon in its final group match.

They did not show up at the airport for their scheduled departure with the rest of their team, and Toma later phoned team officials and told them he and the three players were seeking asylum.

In addition to serving a life ban from coaching any of Iraq's national soccer squads, Toma was banned from working with Iraqi teams for two years.