Players on Canada’s men’s soccer team raised concerns about a controversial friendly match against Iran — and Canada Soccer confirms that pushback factored into its sudden decision to cancel the event.
“Canada Soccer heard those private concerns and took them into consideration as part of the decision-making process,” wrote Canada Soccer in a media statement.
The organization also said it hasn’t paid any fees to Iran’s team. Iranian officials had told state-affiliated media that Canada Soccer would pay them $400,000 for the exhibition game, which reportedly would have allowed Iran’s team to turn a profit off a friendly match for the first time in more than two decades.
Now, the Iranian soccer team says it will pursue damages through FIFA from Canada Soccer for cancelling the game. Iran’s deputy minister of sport announced the team is seeking $10 million in penalties.
“[Canada Soccer] simply sent us a letter announcing the termination,” spokesperson for Iran’s soccer team Mohammad Jamaat wrote in a rare response to CBC News. “We are not provided with specific details.”
The match was called off abruptly Thursday morning in a terse two-line tweet from Canada Soccer.
The organization issued a statement that evening saying it had the best of intentions and organized the match to prepare the men’s soccer team for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar later this year.
The “untenable geopolitical situation of hosting Iran became significantly divisive” over the past week, Canada Soccer wrote.
WATCH/ Canada Soccer cancels controversial match against Iran
Canada Soccer cancels controversial match against Iran
1 day ago
Duration 2:08
Officials at Canada Soccer have cancelled an exhibition game against Iran’s team that was scheduled for Vancouver in June, saying it’s become ‘significantly divisive’ after families of the victims in Flight PS752’s downing urged the organization to call off the match.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative MPs and Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart all objected to the planned match. B’nai Brith Canada, an independent Jewish human rights organization, said it filed an order in Federal Court this week to prohibit any transfer of Canadian funds to the Iranian soccer federation.
The families of those who died in the destruction of Flight PS752 were particularly outspoken. They called the game a slap in the face because their loved ones were killed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The IRGC shot down the commercial plane in 2020 — killing all 176 passengers and crew members, including 85 Canadians and permanent residents.
Experts say sports and politics are intertwined in Iran and the IRGC has ties to the team.
Iranian national soccer team manager Hamid Estili (left) with Mahmoud Khazein (right) at a birthday party on April 8. (Entekhab )
Iranian news outlets say Estili was in Turkey to pick up the team’s Canadian visas on Thursday when Canada Soccer announced it had called off the match.
Jamaat said Canada Soccer sent the Iranian soccer team a letter about the cancellation.
“It was a very strange and unusual event for us, which can be said to be unprecedented,” said Jamaat, who added the team is now considering its options.
Soccer journalists have said that Iran has struggled to book friendly matches in the past ahead of the World Cup and that Canada Soccer should have anticipated a negative response.
Neither Canada Soccer nor Iran’s team would provide CBC News with a copy of the contract for the game, saying it’s confidential.
More than 40,000 tickets had been sold for the match. Those ticket-holders will be reimbursed, said Canada Soccer.
WATCH / Canada to pay Iran’s team $400,000 for Vancouver match, according to Iranian official
Canada Soccer to pay Iran’s team $400K for controversial soccer match
3 days ago
Duration 2:05
There’s growing controversy around a planned exhibition match between the Canadian and Iranian soccer teams set for Vancouver for June. CBC News has reported that Canada Soccer will pay $400,000 to Iran’s soccer federation for the game — and that the head of Iran’s team attended a party with a man wanted by the FBI in relation to an alleged plot to kidnap international targets.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
