Why Somali referee Omar Artan cannot officiate World Cup games in Canada and Mexico after being denied USA entry
· Yahoo Sports
Why Somali referee Omar Artan cannot officiate World Cup games in Canada and Mexico after being denied USA entry originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
FIFA's showpiece tournament gets underway this week, but one of its appointed referees never made it through the door.
Visit freshyourfeel.com for more information.
Omar Abdulkadir Artan, the first Somali referee ever selected for a FIFA World Cup, has been left out from the 2026 tournament after being denied entry into the United States. He arrived in Miami, was pulled aside for additional inspection and was ultimately deemed inadmissible due to what U.S.
Artan told the New York Times he was "very disappointed" by the decision. He is reportedly in Istanbul, Turkey while he awaits possible developments.
He is not alone in his experiences. Iraq's star striker Aymen Hussein was detained and interrogated for seven hours at Chicago O'Hare Airport upon arrival with the national team, according to a team official cited by Reuters. Officers reportedly confiscated his mobile phone and spent hours reviewing his personal documents, before finally allowing him in.
The team's official photographer, Talal Salah, was not so lucky. He was pulled aside alongside Hussein, put through an even longer process and ultimately declared inadmissible. He never entered the country.
These incidents are not exclusive to one another. They are the collision between football's promise of bringing people together and America's strict immigration policy, even for the world's biggest event.
MORE:Complete World Cup schedule and fixtures
Who was the World Cup referee denied entry to USA?
Omar Abdulkadir Artan, 33, is not just any official. He is one of African football's most decorated and respected referees, a man who has spent years earning his place at the very top of the game.
Born in Mogadishu in 1992, Artan became a FIFA-listed referee in 2018 and has risen steadily through the ranks ever since. He made history in January 2024 when he became the first Somali referee to officiate at the Africa Cup of Nations, taking charge of the Group E clash between Tunisia and Namibia. He later oversaw the CAF Champions League final, Egypt's Pyramids FC against South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns, becoming the first referee from Somalia to take charge of a continental showpiece.
In 2025, he was named Africa's Best Referee at the CAF Awards. He completed FIFA's World Cup referees' preparation course and stood out as one of the continent's top performers, earning strong praise for his consistency and decision-making.
His selection for the 2026 World Cup would have been a landmark moment, not just for him, but for Somalia and for African football as a whole. He never got the chance.
Why Somali referee cannot referee games in Mexico and Canada
Artan arrived in Miami with what his government described as all documents in order, including a valid U.S. visa. He was subjected to additional screening upon arrival. At the end of that process, U.S. authorities determined he was inadmissible due to "vetting concerns" and turned him away.
FIFA confirmed his removal from the referee list, stating that it is "not involved in host country immigration processes" and that the host government "ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country."
The response has sparked fury. Former Switzerland international Ramon Vega, who played for Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic, put it bluntly on LinkedIn: "FIFA failed miserably in this regard. The slogan 'Football unites' rang hollow. Disgrace."
Vega also pointed to a 2017 quote from FIFA president Gianni Infantino: "It's obvious when it comes to FIFA competitions, that 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."
Vega raised also the question of why, with the World Cup spread across three countries, was Artan stopped from officiating group-stage matches in Canada or Mexico, where no such entry ban applies?
The game's governing body did not immediately make it clear in its statement why Artan would not be able to referee games in the other two host countries, but there is a reason. Pierluigi Collina, who is FIFA's figure in charge of match officials, has created a training hub in Miami for the 140 referees and assistant referees taking part at the World Cup. As it is a requirement for all these officials to stay at the training base, both for logistical and security reasons, it would not be possible for Artan to referee games in Canada and Mexico while not setting foot in the U.S.
Hassan Ali Khaire, the prime minister of Somalia, posted on X: "I am deeply disappointed by the news that Omar Artan, Africa's finest referee and one of the best in the world, may be unable to officiate at the FIFA World Cup due to visa-related circumstances.
"Omar has earned his place through talent, hard work, professionalism, and integrity. Having officiated at the highest levels of African and international football, his credentials speak for themselves.
"He represents not only Somalia, but also the aspirations of millions of young Africans who believe excellence should be recognized on the world stage.
"I remain hopeful that a solution can be found. Football is at its best when it brings people together and celebrates merit, inclusion, and opportunity.
"Omar, Africa and the world stand with you."
Andrew Giuliani, who leads the White House Task Force on the World Cup, told the BBC World Service: "While I can't go into the derog [derogatory information] on that I can tell you it was the right decision by customs and border patrol and I support that decision."
Which countries are on the USA banned list?
The roots of the current travel ban go back further than the Trump administration. In 2015, following terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, President Barack Obama signed the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act, legislation that restricted visa-free travel for nationals of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan, and later Libya, Yemen and Somalia. It was the first time those seven countries were formally flagged in U.S. law.
When Trump entered the White House in January 2017, he moved fast. Executive Order 13769, quickly labelled a "Muslim ban", suspended entry for nationals of those same seven countries for 90 days. It was blocked by the courts, revised, challenged again, and eventually upheld by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision in June 2018.
What exists today is a far broader version. Presidential Proclamation 10998, which came into effect on January 1, 2026, covers 39 countries across two tiers.
- Full ban: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
- Partial ban (nationals of a further 20 countries face restricted entry): Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
For a tournament that FIFA and the United States sold to the world as a celebration of football's universal power, the picture could hardly be worse. A referee who earned his place on merit, who passed every test FIFA put in front of him, turned away at the airport. A striker interrogated for seven hours. A photographer who never got in at all.
Football unites, they said.