Thomas Partey denied visa for World Cup game

Ghana midfielder has been denied a visa to travel to Canada for their opening World Cup game in Toronto.

Partey, 32, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of rape and one count of sexual assault relating to allegations by four different women between 2020 and 2022. His trial is next year.

He was allowed entry to Boston, USA. That is where Ghana's training base is in the USA for the tournament. But he will be unable to travel to Canada for their game against Panama.

Ghana's last two group games, against England and Croatia, will both take place in the USA.

This world cup is a bit of a joke who would have guessed. Maybe Fifa should just pick actual footballing countries to host it

This world cup is a bit of a joke who would have guessed. Maybe Fifa should just pick actual footballing countries to host it

Like Mexico?

This world cup is a bit of a joke who would have guessed. Maybe Fifa should just pick actual footballing countries to host it

Like Mexico?

Are you defending the US/Canada/Mexico selection?

This world cup is a bit of a joke who would have guessed. Maybe Fifa should just pick actual footballing countries to host it

Like Mexico?

Are you defending the US/Canada/Mexico selection?

Mexico is a huge footballing nation or are you saying only you should choose where its played and it should be arranged to suit you?

It wasn't an issue when it was announced although it should have been moved once the issues with the trump crime family were widely known but that was never going to happen with Infantino having his arm wedged in the same cookie jar. Why do you think it should only go to footballing countries & what countries would you be happy with? It's very easy to sit there & say it should only go to footballing countries but there are less & less with the required amount of grounds needed now.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.

This world cup is a bit of a joke who would have guessed. Maybe Fifa should just pick actual footballing countries to host it

Like Mexico?

Are you defending the US/Canada/Mexico selection?

Mexico is a huge footballing nation or are you saying only you should choose where its played and it should be arranged to suit you?

It wasn't an issue when it was announced although it should have been moved once the issues with the trump crime family were widely known but that was never going to happen with Infantino having his arm wedged in the same cookie jar. Why do you think it should only go to footballing countries & what countries would you be happy with? It's very easy to sit there & say it should only go to footballing countries but there are less & less with the required amount of grounds needed now.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.

None of it matters to us so who cares.
No country should change the rules just because they footballers. Shouldn’t be two tier visa rules.

This world cup is a bit of a joke who would have guessed. Maybe Fifa should just pick actual footballing countries to host it

Like Mexico?

Are you defending the US/Canada/Mexico selection?

Mexico is a huge footballing nation or are you saying only you should choose where its played and it should be arranged to suit you?

It wasn't an issue when it was announced although it should have been moved once the issues with the trump crime family were widely known but that was never going to happen with Infantino having his arm wedged in the same cookie jar. Why do you think it should only go to footballing countries & what countries would you be happy with? It's very easy to sit there & say it should only go to footballing countries but there are less & less with the required amount of grounds needed now.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.

None of it matters to us so who cares.
No country should change the rules just because they footballers. Shouldn’t be two tier visa rules.

Okay, I agree they shouldn't & that there shouldn't be a two tier system anywhere (even though there obviously is) but I'm not sure why Canada has denied someone accused of something but not had a trial yet. Of course they're well within their rights to deny entry to anyone they don't like which would appear to be the case here.

This world cup is a bit of a joke who would have guessed. Maybe Fifa should just pick actual footballing countries to host it

Like Mexico?

Are you defending the US/Canada/Mexico selection?

Mexico is a huge footballing nation or are you saying only you should choose where its played and it should be arranged to suit you?

It wasn't an issue when it was announced although it should have been moved once the issues with the trump crime family were widely known but that was never going to happen with Infantino having his arm wedged in the same cookie jar. Why do you think it should only go to footballing countries & what countries would you be happy with? It's very easy to sit there & say it should only go to footballing countries but there are less & less with the required amount of grounds needed now.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.

How on earth is it to suit me? I'm not calling for FIFA to host it in Wales. Weird. Brazil, Argentina, England, Germany, Spain, France. Mexico is fine but they've had 3. Is there anywhere else that has the infrastructure to host. It should never be moved to suit the Saudis/Quatar either. You didn't need much hindsight to see the US would be a crap place to host a football tournament. FIFA will continue to be corrupt and go for cash grabs and back handers, while people will defend their insane selections.

England is obviously seen as a big footballing nation, albeit without winning anything as a country for a long time. They haven't hosted it since 1966 which is a bit strange, lost out to Russia in 2018. Especially as England already has the infrastructure.

The last three tournaments have seen:

USA, Canada, Mexico (2026)
Qatar (2022)
Russia (2018)

Of those nations, you'd only call Mexico a footballing nation.

At least the next one is in Morocco, Portugal and Spain - all footballing nations. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will also host matches as it's the 100th anniversary of World Cups.

I get the argument that having the World Cup in countries that aren't natural football nations can help improve the game there, but it does seem slightly disproportionate that those nations are hosting more than footballing nations in recent years.

England is obviously seen as a big footballing nation, albeit without winning anything as a country for a long time. They haven't hosted it since 1966 which is a bit strange, lost out to Russia in 2018. Especially as England already has the infrastructure.

The last three tournaments have seen:

USA, Canada, Mexico (2026)
Qatar (2022)
Russia (2018)

Of those nations, you'd only call Mexico a footballing nation.

At least the next one is in Morocco, Portugal and Spain - all footballing nations. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will also host matches as it's the 100th anniversary of World Cups.

I get the argument that having the World Cup in countries that aren't natural football nations can help improve the game there, but it does seem slightly disproportionate that those nations are hosting more than footballing nations in recent years.

That argument is just FIFA's code for who gave us the biggest brown envelope. Morocco, Spain, Portugal sounds good bit daft playing games in South America too just let those three countries run it next time instead of going to another corrupt dumb in the middle east

England is obviously seen as a big footballing nation, albeit without winning anything as a country for a long time. They haven't hosted it since 1966 which is a bit strange, lost out to Russia in 2018. Especially as England already has the infrastructure.

The last three tournaments have seen:

USA, Canada, Mexico (2026)
Qatar (2022)
Russia (2018)

Of those nations, you'd only call Mexico a footballing nation.

At least the next one is in Morocco, Portugal and Spain - all footballing nations. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will also host matches as it's the 100th anniversary of World Cups.

I get the argument that having the World Cup in countries that aren't natural football nations can help improve the game there, but it does seem slightly disproportionate that those nations are hosting more than footballing nations in recent years.

That argument is just FIFA's code for who gave us the biggest brown envelope. Morocco, Spain, Portugal sounds good bit daft playing games in South America too just let those three countries run it next time instead of going to another corrupt dumb in the middle east

Well we can probably all agree on the brown envelope part but what's wrong with South America, seems there are quite a few footballing nations there, like just about all of them.

England is obviously seen as a big footballing nation, albeit without winning anything as a country for a long time. They haven't hosted it since 1966 which is a bit strange, lost out to Russia in 2018. Especially as England already has the infrastructure.

The last three tournaments have seen:

USA, Canada, Mexico (2026)
Qatar (2022)
Russia (2018)

Of those nations, you'd only call Mexico a footballing nation.

At least the next one is in Morocco, Portugal and Spain - all footballing nations. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will also host matches as it's the 100th anniversary of World Cups.

I get the argument that having the World Cup in countries that aren't natural football nations can help improve the game there, but it does seem slightly disproportionate that those nations are hosting more than footballing nations in recent years.

That argument is just FIFA's code for who gave us the biggest brown envelope. Morocco, Spain, Portugal sounds good bit daft playing games in South America too just let those three countries run it next time instead of going to another corrupt dumb in the middle east

Well we can probably all agree on the brown envelope part but what's wrong with South America, seems there are quite a few footballing nations there, like just about all of them.

Absolutely nothing Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay sounds like a great tournament to me it's insane to pair it with Spain, Portugal and Morocco though, just so you can bend your own daft rules claim 3 continents have had their turn hosting and make another very suspicious decision by handing Saudi Arabia a tournament