Twenty-five Ghanaians who travelled to Canada in connection with the 2026 FIFA World Cup have applied for asylum, according to figures released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
The applications form part of 175 asylum claims submitted by foreign nationals who entered Canada after receiving temporary residence approval linked to the tournament, which was co-hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico.
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According to IRCC, temporary residence applications were approved for 26,111 people who indicated they were travelling in connection with the FIFA World Cup.
As of July 20, 2026, 175 of those individuals had subsequently filed asylum claims.
“Of the 26,111 individuals with prior FIFA-related approved temporary residence applications, 175 people later submitted asylum claims,” IRCC said in a statement cited by Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail.
The department clarified that the figures relate only to applicants who identified “FIFA World Cup 26” in their temporary residence applications.
Among the countries recording the highest number of asylum claims were Ghana and China, with 25 applications each.
Egypt and Colombia each accounted for 15 claims, while Senegal, Bangladesh and Nigeria recorded 10 applications apiece. Ecuador, Burundi, Nepal and Pakistan each registered five asylum claims.
Canadian authorities did not indicate how many of the applicants were football players, team officials, support staff or spectators who travelled to attend the tournament.
The IRCC noted that it is not uncommon for foreign nationals who enter a country for major international sporting events to seek asylum.
The latest development recalls a similar incident in 2014, when approximately 200 Ghanaians applied for asylum after the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, citing religious persecution. The Government of Ghana at the time rejected those claims as baseless.
