World Cup driving spike in counterfeit goods, Canadian, U.S. border officials say

Canadian and U.S. border law enforcement officials said Friday they expect to see a surge in counterfeit goods linked to the World Cup.

Officials from the Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit made the comments during a panel event at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa.

Media representatives were invited to attend a portion of the event, which was held on a not-for-attribution basis and attended by law enforcement, lawyers and individuals who work in the sports industry.

Lawyer David Lipkus said there is a lot of fan demand and counterfeits are flooding the marketplace.

Two people were arrested in Toronto earlier this week after the seizure of more than 16,000 items of counterfeit soccer merchandise.

Police alleged that a warehouse in Mississauga, Ont., held a large quantity of fake merchandise, including jerseys, hats and flags, and the accused were supplying the products to retail stores.

“This was a large-scale operation designed to exploit fans and take advantage of their love for sports,” Toronto Police Deputy Chief Robert Johnson said at a press conference Monday.

Lipkus said the “eye opening” number of items indicates the scale of the problem.

“That was a snapshot in time on one day at one warehouse in one city,” he said.

“So if you extrapolate that and look at all the other cities … look at the all the online third-party marketplaces, look at social media, that tells you everything you need to know.”

Lipkus said that while U.S. border officials have the authority to seize and destroy counterfeit goods, border officials in Canada only have the authority to hold counterfeit items for 10 days.

He added that under the Copyright Act, there is no mechanism to force a takedown of websites selling counterfeit goods.

— With files from Rianna Lim in Toronto

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2026.

By Anja Karadeglija | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.