Ghana blasts ‘unfair’ Canada for rejecting midfielder Thomas Partey’s visa
3 min readJun 13, 2026 07:11 PM IST Seeking a review, the Ghana government has called Canada’s decision to reject midfielder Thomas Partey a visa “high-handed and extremely unfair”. The former Arsenal player will miss his country’s FIFA World Cup 2026 opener against Panama, in Toronto on Wednesday. In a strongly worded statement, the West African nation’s foreign ministry said that it understood the decision was based on pending criminal proceedings in Britain. The 32-year-old Partey, who currently plays for Villarreal, has pleaded not guilty to multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault by four women between 2020 and 2022. Partey, who will stand trial next year, is with the rest of the Ghana squad in Boston. He could feature in their subsequent Group L matches against England in Foxborough and versus Croatia in Philadelphia. Ghana’s foreign ministry said it had released an official note of protest requesting that Canada review its decision. “The Government of the Republic of Ghana expresses strong reservations following the high-handed and extremely unfair decision by Canada,” the statement read. …









