Iranian officials to miss FIFA Congress over alleged mistreatment in Canada

An Iranian football federation delegation reportedly turned back at Toronto’s main airport this week, citing alleged mistreatment by Canadian immigration, and is set to miss a pre-World Cup FIFA gathering in Vancouver.

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Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported that the delegation members, including federation President Mehdi Taj, Secretary-General Hedayat Mombeni and his deputy, Hamed Momeni, turned back upon arrival at Toronto’s Pearson airport despite holding valid visas, citing what was described as the “unacceptable behaviour of immigration officials”.

The Iranian delegation was en route to Vancouver for Thursday’s FIFA Congress, which is meant to bring together representatives of all 211 member associations before the World Cup being co-hosted by Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

“While Mehdi Taj, president, Hedayat Mombeni, secretary-general, and Hamed Momeni, deputy secretary-general of the federation, had travelled to Toronto ??with official visas to attend the FIFA Congress, they returned to Turkiye on the first available flight due to the unacceptable behaviour of immigration officials at the airport and the insult to one of the most honourable organs of the Iranian nation’s armed forces,” the Iran football federation said in a statement.

In 2024, Canada listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, and statements from the Canadian government indicated that Taj was denied entry due to his alleged ties with the IRGC.

“While we cannot comment on individual cases due to privacy laws, the government has been clear and consistent: IRGC officials are inadmissible to Canada and have no place in our country,” the Canadian government said in a statement.

“We have taken strong action to hold the IRGC to account and will continue to ‌‌do so, while protecting the safety of Canadians and upholding the integrity of our immigration system.”

However, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said it was her “understanding” that Iranian football officials were denied entry into the country but added that the denial was “unintentional”.

“It’s not my personal lead, but my understanding is that there is a revocation of the permission. It was unintentional, but I’ll leave it to the minister to indicate,” Anand said, apparently referring to Immigration Minister Lena Diab.