{"id":275017,"date":"2026-06-09T05:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/275017\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T05:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:53:10","slug":"somali-football-referee-denied-us-entry-will-miss-world-cup-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/275017\/","title":{"rendered":"Somali football referee denied US entry, will miss World Cup debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MIAMI, United States \u2013 The United States denied entry over the weekend to soccer referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, who had been expected to be \u200bthe first Somali to officiate at a World Cup match.<\/p>\n<p>A FIFA spokesperson \u200csaid on Monday that Artan will not be able to train and officiate at the World Cup \u2013 which kicks off on Thursday \u2013 after he was not allowed to enter the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFIFA is \u200bnot involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has \u200bbeen informed by authorities that Mr Artan\u2019s status will not be changed \u2060at present,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>Artan said in a statement that despite the circumstances \u200bhe was in a positive mood and focused on the next challenges of his refereeing \u200bcareer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to thank the \u200bfootball family for messages and wish my colleagues all the best success \u200bduring the World Cup and I look forward to joining them again in future competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Customs \u200cand \u2060Border Protection, without naming him, said in a statement that a Somali national arrived at Miami International Airport from Istanbul on Saturday and was deemed inadmissible due to vetting concerns.<\/p>\n<p>The agency did not elaborate on those concerns, but said the referee underwent routine \u200badditional inspection before \u200bbeing denied entry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdmissibility determinations \u2060are made on a case-by-case basis using law enforcement, national security, and immigration information available at the time of inspection,\u201d the \u200bCBP said.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration\u2019s strict immigration policies have been a point \u200bof concern ahead \u2060of the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Washington imposed a sweeping travel ban on citizens of 12 countries, including Somalia.<\/p>\n<p>Artan, who was named the Confederation of African Football\u2019s Best Male \u2060Referee for \u200b2025, had a valid visa, according to media \u200breports. Somalia\u2019s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/zimlive.com\/support\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/zlsupport_small.png\" width=\"100%\" alt=\"Did you enjoy this report? We need your support\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI, United States \u2013 The United States denied entry over the weekend to soccer referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[60],"tags":[138842,9722,1984,2679,3183,6463,106],"class_list":["post-275017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-zimbabwe","tag-omar-abdulkadir-artan","tag-referee","tag-somalia","tag-united-states","tag-wide","tag-world-cup","tag-zimbabwe"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}