Omar Artan, named the 2025 Confederation of African Football men's referee of the year, was selected as one of 52 referees for the 2026 FIFA World Cup hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Artan arrived at Miami International Airport on June 6 from Istanbul but was denied entry by US Customs and Border Protection after an 11-hour immigration interview and subsequent detention [2, 4, 6, 7]. Although he held a diplomatic passport and a valid single-entry US visa, officials deemed him inadmissible citing "vetting concerns" following additional inspection [8, 9, 6, 7, 10, 11].
The US travel ban list introduced under the Trump administration in June 2025 includes Somalia among 12 countries subject to visa restrictions [1, 2, 8, 9, 4, 10, 11]. Jeremy Giuliani, head of the White House Task Force on the World Cup, defended the decision, citing undisclosed derogatory information and national security concerns, saying he supports Customs and Border Patrol's judgment but declined to provide details [2, 4, 12]. A US State Department official told AFP Artan was "associated with suspected members of terrorist organizations," making him ineligible for admission [12, 11].
Artan expressed deep disappointment but thanked FIFA, the Confederation of African Football, and Somali supporters for their support. "I am very, very disappointed. I'm just simply a referee who's trying to live his dream - the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup," he said. "I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa," he added [6]. Later he said, "What happened has happened and it was wrong. I am grateful for the support FIFA gave me." He vowed to continue his career: "I promise you that I'll be officiating you in the next World Cup. Somalia, everywhere, I'm letting you know" [2, 11].
Because of the US entry ban, Artan cannot participate or train with other World Cup officials who are based in Florida, preventing him from officiating matches across the US, Canada, or Mexico [2, 4, 10].
After being flown back to Istanbul, Artan returned to Somalia around June 9 or 10, where he was welcomed by government officials and football authorities. Somali officials made unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with US and FIFA representatives for his entry [2, 10, 11].
The 2026 FIFA World Cup opened in North America on June 11 without Artan, marking a rare exclusion of a top referee from the event due to immigration denial.
