Officials with soccer's international governing body FIFA criticized Canada's decision not to recognize documents FIFA and a Canadian senator had given to female athletes and others who were scrambling to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in 2021.
Canada refused to accept "visa facilitation letters" FIFA and Canadian Senator Marilou McPhedran handed out based on a template provided by a Canadian Department of National Defence employee in attempts to evacuate 640 women athletes, their coaches and others, according to court documents.
“As FIFA, we are deeply concerned about the apparent change of mind of the Canadian authorities not to honor the visa facilitation letters,” reads a Sept. 21, 2021, email from FIFA Chief Social Responsibility and Education Officer Joyce Cook to an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada staffer.
The email is among newly released court documents that convey FIFA’s role in efforts to get young Afghan athletes and those close to them out of Afghanistan. The documents were filed in a case brought by six Afghans who say they received letters but were later told they were invalid. They are asking a judge to order the government to grant them temporary resident permits.
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