Police providing motorcades for all 9 World Cup teams playing in Toronto – Toronto

Lines of cars sat waiting for the lights to change near Toronto’s waterfront on Wednesday morning, as police closed a busy intersection.

Pairs of police motorcycle riders turned the corner at the intersection as drivers watched, followed by a large coach emblazoned with the colours of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose national team will kick off their World Cup against Canada on Friday.

Another coach and a vehicle came next, along with several more police bikes, before the intersection reopened.

It’s a sight that will become more common in Toronto over the next few weeks as police offer motorcade escorts to the nine international teams that will play in the city and “certain officials” visiting for the World Cup.

A police spokesperson told Global News the move was to deal with safety concerns like “large crowds gathering around team vehicles.”

The motorcade escorts are being provided by officers from Toronto police, Peel Regional Police, York Regional Police, Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP.

“We are more prepared for not only who we are escorting, which is the team buses, but also for the crowds that we anticipate will be coming to the matches,” Toronto police said in a video posted online in May.

“The idea behind an escort is to safely and efficiently move a vehicle or vehicles from one point to another in that safe and efficient manner with the least amount of impact to our road users.”

The City of Toronto directed questions to FIFA about whether or not providing the escorts was mandatory as part of its host city agreement.

FIFA did not respond to questions ahead of publication.

World Cup motorcades made headlines in the spring, after police in Vancouver refused to provide FIFA President Gianni Infantino with a full motorcade when he visited the city.

Sources previously told Global News that a full motorcade escort so that Infantino could go through traffic lights was requested from police and declined.

A FIFA spokesperson said at the time that the “President was not aware of, or involved in, any requests with authorities in relation to his transportation and security matters.”

Toronto will host six FIFA World Cup matches between June 12 and July 2, including one knock-out game.

So far, nine teams are confirmed as playing in Toronto. Once the Round of 32 is drawn, the figure could increase to 11.

The games will begin on Friday with Canada versus Bosnia and Herzegovina at 3 p.m.

–with files from Global News’ Colin D’Mello and Amy Judd

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