June 17, 2022
Canada Soccer announced in May that it would play a friendly match in Vancouver against Iran June 5 as the two teams prepare for their appearances in the World Cup finals in November. But the announcement caused a huge stink across Canada and has now been canceled.
The Islamic Republic has become even more a focus of hatred in Canada than in the United States ever since the Pasdaran fired two missiles at a Ukrainian airliner flying over Tehran January 8, 2020, half of whose passengers where Iranian-born Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
Iran has basically stuck its thumb in Canada’s eye and refused to deal with Canada over issues surrounding the downing of the plane.
Meanwhile, the remaining team Iran must play in the first stage of the World Cup finals has been determined. Ukraine defeated Scotland 2-1, but then lost to Wales 1-0, so Iran will be facing Wales as well as England and the US—all English-speaking countries.
Five days after Canada Soccer announced that a friendly match had been scheduled, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his displeasure over the plan. Then the premier (governor) of the province of British Columbia weighed in and expressed his disgust. Next the organization of families of those killed on the Ukrainian plane issued a statement denouncing the whole idea of holding the match.
All this was too much for Canada Soccer, which announced May 26 it was canceling the game. That was two weeks after it had proudly announced its plans for the match.
Iran had announced it would play a second warm-up match against Ecuador June 11 in Toronto. But Ecuador backed out of that match even before Canada Soccer canceled its match with Iran.
Iran then had no warm-up matches scheduled. Many fans in Iran were already irate before the Canada match was announced that the Iranian Football Federation had been unable to schedule any warm-up matches and feared the team would be ill-prepared to go into the finals, with the first game scheduled for November 21 against England.
Iran had planned games against South Africa, Oman and Ecuador, but all have been canceled. The Russian Soccer Federation said it would play Iran in August, but Iran has not announced anything yet. Then a game was quickly arranged with Algeria. It was played in Qatar June 12 with Iran losing 1-0. It was the first match under Coach Dragon Skocic that the team has lost. It was a surprise loss, given that Iran ranks 21st in the world and Algeria 44th. It signaled to many fans that Iran desperately needs more warm-up matches before November.
Generally, sports is viewed as above politics and exempt from national frictions. For example, Condoleezza Rice, when she was secretary of state under President George W. Bush, slammed the handful of people who opposed allowing Iran’s soccer team to come to the United States for a friendly match. That opposition movement soon collapsed and the game was played without problems.
But that view did not prevail in Canada, where few voices rose in defense of the proposed match. In fact, Canada Soccer said even some of the players on its national team expressed concerns about playing an international pariah like Iran.
But it also said that 40,000 tickets had been sold for the match, suggesting that the Iranian community centered on North Vancouver did not oppose the match.
Hamid Esmaeilion, spokesman for the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, said soccer in Iran was controlled by the Pasdaran, the very group that shot down the plane. He said, “There are many other opponents Canada Soccer can play instead, if they wanted to keep politics out of sports.”
The downing of the plane killed all 176 people on board, of which 55 were Iranian-Canadian dual nationals and 30 were permanent residents of Canada.
The plan for hosting the match wasn’t helped when Hamid Estili, the manager of the Iranian national team, was quoted by the Tasnim news agency as saying Canada would be paying the Iranian team $400,000 to cover its costs. It is normal for the host to pay the visitors’ costs. But Estili said the amount was twice what Iran needed to cover its costs, so it would make a nice profit the first time in 22 years.
Opposition grew further when an April photo was published showing Estili in Tehran posing with Mahmud Khazein, who has been charged by the United States with being part of a kidnap plot designed to spirit dissident Masih Alinejad from her Brooklyn home and take her back to Iran.
Prime Minister Trudeau kicked off the dispute, commenting, “I think it wasn’t a good idea to invite the Iranian soccer team here to Canada. But that’s something the organizers are going to have to explain.”
Next, BC Premier John Horgan said he was “reminded and reflecting on the Canadian lives that were lost when a plane was shot down in Iranian airspace, killing Brutish Columbians…. But I’ll leave it to Canada Soccer to discuss how and why this [match] came about.”
But neither man asked that the game be canceled.
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart then weighed in, flatly opposing the game. “Until our Iranian neighbors get answers from the IRGC, we should not host the Canada Soccer friendly.”
Then Ralph Goodale, Canada’s high commissioner (ambassador) to Britain, who previously handled the issue of the plane’s shootdown for Trudeau, said, “This behavior by Canada Soccer is repugnant. It calls into question both the competence and the values of the organization.”
The day after Canada Soccer canceled the match, Sina Kalhor, Iran’s deputy sports minister, announced that Iran would be suing Canada Soccer for $10 million in damages for the cancellation. Kalhor did not say where he came up with the sum of $10 million.
Within Iran, the regime has been giving much publicity to Canada Soccer’s decision, with numerous officials saying Canada is despicable for allowing politics to rule over sports. None say anything about the Iranian regime’s policy of refusing to allow Iranian athletes to compete against Israelis. They also say nothing about FIFA’s frequent complaints about Iranian government interference in soccer policies.