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Somalian referee Omar Artan has thanked the “football family” for its support after being denied a visa to the United States, where he was due to officiate in the 2026 World Cup.
Artan was on FIFA’s 52-strong list of officials to take charge of the tournament that begins on Thursday but is now in Turkey after being turned away at border control at Miami International Airport.
No reason was given by US immigration and it is believed Artan was travelling on a diplomatic passport to ease any entry issues. Somalia is, however, on a travel ban list introduced by US president Donald Trump, who late last year was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.
“I would like to thank FIFA and CAF for all their support and I promise to keep my refereeing levels up as I concentrate on the future,” Artan told Reuters.
“I want to thank the football family for their messages and wish my colleagues all the best success during the World Cup and I look forward to joining them again in future competitions.”
FIFA claim their blameless after Artan turned away
FIFA confirmed the decision was out of their hands and would not be overturned.
“FIFA can confirm that match official Omar Abdulkadir Artan will be unable to train and officiate at the World Cup 2026 after he was denied entry into the United States,” read a statement.
“FIFA is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr Artan’s status will not be changed at present.
“In line with previous FIFA events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country.”
There have been other issues with entry to the US with reports Iraq striker Aymen Hussein was detained for questioning for seven hours in Chicago and the team photographer barred altogether.
Infantino pledges go out of the window following Artan decision
FIFA’s stance on Artan is in direct opposition to the pledges made by president Gianni Infantino when discussing the bidding process for the tournament in 2017.
Then, he said: “Teams who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. That is obvious.
“We are now in the process of defining the bid requirements. In the world there are many countries who have bans, travel bans, visa requirements and so on and so forth. It’s obvious when it comes to FIFA competitions, any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup.
“The requirements will be clear. And then each country can make up their decision, whether they want to bid or not based on the requirements.”
