Marie Woolf Globe and Mail July 23, 2026

Visitors to Canada who applied for visas to attend the FIFA World Cup have so far lodged 175 asylum claims, including from Senegal, Ghana and Egypt.

Canada played host to 13 games in Toronto and Vancouver in June and July, issuing 26,000 visas to visitors. Spain won the international tournament on Sunday by defeating the previous reigning champion, Argentina.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada declined to say how many of the refugee claims were made by soccer players or support staff from visiting teams.

The number of claims could still increase, including from foreign nationals who overstay the terms of their visa and later claim refugee status.

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Ghanaians, whose national team played Panama on June 17 in Toronto, have lodged the most asylum claims. Twenty-five people from Ghana who flagged “FIFA World Cup 26″ on their visitor visa applications claimed asylum, IRCC said.

Fifteen people with visitor visas from Egypt also claimed asylum. Egypt played New Zealand in the group stage in Vancouver on June 21.

Fifteen Colombian nationals, whose soccer team played Switzerland in Vancouver on July 7, lodged refugee claims after entering the country.

There were 10 asylum claims from Senegalese nationals who came here for the World Cup. Senegal’s national team played their final group-stage match against Iraq in Toronto on June 26.

There were five refugee claims from Ecuadorians, whose national team competed in the World Cup in matches outside Canada.

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Many refugee claims were made by World Cup visitors whose national teams did not participate in the tournament. They include 15 Kenyans, 10 from China, 10 from Bangladesh, 10 Nigerians and five each from Burundi, Nepal and Pakistan.

Five asylum claims were made by foreign nationals who did not need a visa to come to Canada but arrived on an electronic travel authorization.

Visa-exempt countries include France, Belgium and Norway. Citizens of Qatar can also fly here with an electronic travel authorization after the visa requirement for that country was lifted in November, 2025.

Qatar paid for about 1,000 of its fans to attend World Cup fixtures, including in Vancouver for their group-stage match against Canada in June. Qatar’s Social and Sport Contribution Fund partnered with the Persian Gulf country’s soccer federation to pay for their flights, hotels and local transportation.

A group of Qatari fans arrived on a jet chartered by the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to watch Qatar’s 6-0 defeat at the hands of Canada. Striker Jonathan David scored a historic hat trick, becoming the first Canadian to net three goals in a single men’s World Cup match.

IRCC said in a statement that “as of July 20, 2026, of the 26,111 individuals with prior FIFA-related approved temporary residence applications, 175 people later submitted asylum claims.”

“It is important to note that this data only includes applicants who flagged ‘FIFA World Cup 26′ in their temporary-residence applications,” it added.

Ottawa recently tightened the rules on asylum claims, barring people who have been in Canada for more than a year from a hearing at the independent tribunal that rules on refugee cases.

Before the World Cup, IRCC warned ticketholders that they could be refused visas or turned away by border agents if there is a fear that they may not return home after the international soccer tournament ended.

The department has said that it closely scrutinized visa applications to prevent people from entering the country with the aim of claiming asylum. A number of Ghanaians were refused visas to attend World Cup fixtures, according to a Canadian immigration consultant to whom The Globe and Mail spoke.

Toronto immigration lawyer Stephen Green said “the government did a great job of assessing applications” because the number of asylum claims was low in proportion to the volume of people who came here for the World Cup.

In the run up to the tournament, Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab suspended the need for work permits for foreign nationals working as part of the soccer tournament. The temporary suspension of the permit rule applied to people invited by FIFA, including players, coaches and team physiotherapists, as well as referees and match officials. They were able to enter Canada on visitor visas.

Countries holding major sporting events are often faced with asylum claims, not just from fans but from participants and support staff.

Eritrea’s soccer federation was reported to have withdrawn its men’s team from World Cup qualifying matches owing to concerns that players would attempt to seek asylum during trips abroad.

Twenty-two people who came to Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics made asylum claims in Canada; seven of them were members of the “Olympic family.” The claimants, according to the Immigration Department, came from nine different countries: Ghana, Hungary, Mongolia, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Nepal and Japan.

When London held the Olympic Games in 2012, 82 officials and athletes, including competitors from Cameroon, Eritrea and Rwanda, sought asylum in Britain, some before the opening ceremony.

Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-fifa-world-cup-canada-asylum-claims/