Macedonian soccer player tells how childhood teammate helped him flee Iran

Record ID: 2362943

  • Title: Macedonian soccer player tells how childhood teammate helped him flee Iran
  • Date: 11th March 2026
  • Summary: SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA (MARCH 11, 2026) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Macedonian) NORTH MACEDONIAN FOOTBALLER, STEFAN ASHKOVSKI, SAYING: "The journey took 16-17 hours. He drove, I drove, we barely stopped, maybe only once to get fuel, because on such a long trip you have to. But we tried to reach the border as fast as possible, because along the way we saw explosions and rockets
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Iran Mes Rafsanjan F.C. escape football soccer soccer club war
  • Location: SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA / NEAR TEHRAN AND UNKNOWN LOCATION, IRAN
  • City: SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA / NEAR TEHRAN AND UNKNOWN LOCATION, IRAN
  • Country: Macedonia
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA003306711032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Footballer Stefan Ashkovski, North Macedonian but playing in Iran, says it was thanks to a former colleague that he managed to get out of Iran safely after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes killed the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a region-wide conflict.
    Ashkovski who plays for Iranian club Mes Rafsanjan FC, said fellow footballer Jasir Asani, an Albanian player for Esteghlal FC, called him just before the attacks. The two played together at FK Vardar when they were children.
    "'America is going to attack, it is going to attack,' he told me,'" Ashkovski said. 
    Ashkovski said he had fobbed Asani off, wanting his breakfast, until his childhood teammate showed him video of a missile strike. He wasn't going to eat again for three days.
    The first challenge was to retrieve his passport from a hotel in central Tehran, which was near the site of the alleged attack that killed Khamenei. 
    Asani, playing for a bigger team with access to a driver got him on the road. With the driver assisting him, Ashkovski said they managed to get within two or three kilometres of the hotel before soldiers and panicked crowds blocked their path, forcing them to switch to a motorbike to navigate through side streets.
    The journey to the Turkish border took 16-17 hours of almost non-stop driving. They finally escaped escaped Iran on February 28.
    "Along the way, we saw explosions and rockets, and we kept saying, 'Let's get to the border as quickly as we can,'" Ashkovski said.
    After crossing the border, Ashkovski and his companions boarded a plane to Istanbul and he eventually returned home to North Macedonia.
    Earlier this week, Australia granted humanitarian visas to five Iranian women soccer players after they sought asylum, fearing persecution on their return home for their refusal to sing the national anthem at a Women's Asian Cup match.
    34-year-old Ashkovski so far has been capped 40 times for Macedonia. He signed in January signed for Iranian side Mes Rafsanjan, despite the North Macedonian government’s advice for citizens not to travel to Iran.
    Iran cannot participate in the 2026 World Cup after co-host the U.S. launched airstrikes alongside Israel, Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali said on Wednesday (March 11).
    (Production: Ognien Teofilovski, Branko Filipovic, Malgorzata Wojtunik, Claire Watson)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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