Canada Soccer has cancelled a friendly match between the men's national team and Iran next month following sharp criticism of the fixture.
The game had drawn opposition from politicians and the families of Canadians who died aboard a Ukrainian passenger plane that was shot down near Tehran in January 2020 by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had also said he felt it was "a bad idea" to invite the Iranian team to Canada.
"Over the past week, the untenable geopolitical situation of hosting Iran became significantly divisive, and in response, the match was canceled," Canada Soccer said in a statement dated May 26.
"While we considered the external factors in selecting the optimal opponent in our original decision-making process, we will strive to do better moving forward," it added.
Azamat Azhdari, whose sister was killed in the disaster, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that “as long as there is no justice for the 176 passengers of the flight, friendly relations between Iran and Canada are meaningless.”
Sina Kalhor, Iran’s deputy minister of sports, threatened to sue the Canadian Soccer Association for $10 million for cancelling the match “unilaterally.”
A special Canadian forensic team produced a report in mid-2021 that accused Iran of incompetence and recklessness over the downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane. The report found that while the shooting down of Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752 had not been premeditated, it did not absolve Iranian officials of responsibility for the incident.
Iran criticized the report as being "highly politicized."
Tehran has blamed the incident on a "disastrous mistake" by Iranian forces on high alert during heightened tensions with the United States.