World Cup player Elye Wahi denied entry to Canada after arrest for alleged fixing offences

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Ivory Coast striker Elye Wahi has been denied entry to Canada for his country’s second World Cup group game against Germany on Saturday.

The Athletic exclusively revealed on Wednesday Wahi, 23, had been arrested on suspicion of fixing offences less than two weeks before the World Cup. He has not been charged with any crime.

Wahi started Ivory Coast’s victory over Ecuador in their World Cup opener on Sunday at Philadelphia Field, Pennsylvania. His side play their second game of the tournament in Toronto on Saturday but the Ivory Coast Football Federation (FIF) confirmed in a statement that Wahi had not been permitted entry to Canada. He will remain in the United States and the FIF said it would “continue to monitor the situation carefully”.

“The FIF has taken note of the various articles and information published on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, concerning the Ivorian international Elye Wahi,” an FIF statement read.

“To date, the FIF has not been officially notified of any judicial or administrative proceedings involving him.

“In this particularly difficult time, FIF gives its full support to the player. Elye Wahi remains an important part of the national team of Ivory Coast.

“FIF also informs that the player will not be able to make the delegation’s trip to Canada. The administrative authorizations required for his entry into Canadian territory could not be obtained at this point. So Elye Wahi will remain in the U.S. waiting for the team to return.”

Sources with knowledge of events, who spoke anonymously as they were not authorised to do so publicly, confirmed Wahi is the subject of an active investigation, which is seeking to establish whether the striker, while playing for his club side Nice, deliberately earned a yellow card against Metz on May 17. He was arrested by French police on May 29.

Ivory Coast team practices after Athletic reports on Wahi’s arrest

Matt Slater

A spokesperson for the Marseille public prosecutor’s office told The Athletic on Tuesday: “We can confirm that a 23-year-old football player, competing in France’s Ligue 1, was arrested on May 29 as part of an investigation opened by the Marseille public prosecutor’s office into allegations of organized fraud, organized sports corruption, handling of proceeds of crime and money laundering.“

Wahi was permitted to travel to North America for the World Cup after being released from police custody.

After publication on Wednesday, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) released a statement confirming there were ongoing proceedings related to “an unusual volume of bets relating to a booking involving the player Elye Wahi.”

Wahi is the second player to be denied entry to Canada for the 2026 World Cup after Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey was also banned from entering the country for his side’s tournament opener against Panama on Wednesday.

The Villarreal player, formerly of Arsenal, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in July 2025 by London’s Metropolitan Police. In September of that year, he pleaded not guilty. He was charged with two new counts of rape in February this year, to which he pleaded not guilty in April.

However, when applying to enter Canada ahead of the tournament, Partey’s application, received on May 21, falsely claimed that he had not been charged with any criminal charges in any country.

Wahi was arrested shortly after scoring two goals in a win over Saint-Etienne that kept Nice in Ligue 1, France’s top division.

According to multiple sources with knowledge of the case, who spoke anonymously so that they could discuss the allegations candidly, the probe began after the LFP, the governing body that runs the domestic game in France, received several notifications of suspicious betting patterns in Nice’s Ligue 1 fixture against Metz, involving wagers on Wahi to receive a yellow card.

The practice of manipulating events within a game is known as spot-fixing.

The Athletic has approached Wahi, Ivory Coast, FIFA and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for comment.