{"id":857597,"date":"2026-06-10T14:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/857597\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T14:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:08:15","slug":"world-cup-referee-denied-entry-to-us-gets-heros-welcome-on-return-to-somalia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/857597\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup referee denied entry to US gets hero’s welcome on return to Somalia"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) \u2014 A World Cup referee from Somalia<\/a> who was denied entry to the United States<\/a> was received by a crowd of supporters and officials Wednesday as he arrived home in the capital of Mogadishu, where he said he plans to be at the next World Cup and urged Somali youth to be proud of their country.<\/p>\n

Omar Artan was set to be the first referee from Somalia<\/a> to officiate at a World Cup after making FIFA\u2019s final list for the tournament. He is one of Africa\u2019s top referees and was named the continent\u2019s best male referee in 2025.<\/p>\n

He was denied entry at Miami International Airport on Saturday over \u201cvetting concerns,\u201d U.S. Customs and Border Protection<\/a> said in a statement, without giving details of the concerns. FIFA<\/a> subsequently cut him<\/a> from the tournament\u2019s referee list.<\/p>\n

Artan was issued a visa to travel to the U.S. last week, according to the Somalia Embassy in Kenya, which processed it. The U.S. is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada, and Artan was due to meet up with other World Cup referees at their training base in Miami.<\/p>\n

He returned to a hero\u2019s welcome in Mogadishu, where he thanked the Somali government and people as well as FIFA for their support for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI promise you, God willing, that I will attend the next one,\u201d he said as hundreds of supporters at the airport waved Somali flags. \u201cI want the Somali public to take comfort in this and remain confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S.’s highly unusual move to deny a FIFA-appointed match official permission to enter a World Cup host country drew outrage across the world and raised questions among some fans about America\u2019s capacity to host the competition.<\/p>\n

Somalia is one of nearly 40 countries subject to new travel restrictions under the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on immigration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the United Nations\u2019 top human rights official called for a \u201cmassive rethink\u201d<\/a> of immigration policies especially in the United States around the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of supporters, government officials and members of Somalia\u2019s football community gathered hours before Artan arrived at Aden Adde International Airport.<\/p>\n

As he disembarked, supporters waving Somali flags crowded around him before draping him in the flag.<\/p>\n

He was then escorted by police officers to the airport\u2019s VIP terminal, where he was welcomed by Somalia\u2019s sports minister and other dignitaries, and spoke to journalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is up to all of us to defend the Somali name,\u201d Artan said. \u201cSomalia belongs to us, whether it is in a bad state or a good state. That flag belongs to us, and that passport belongs to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a country where decades of war and the rise of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab<\/a> extremist group have limited the potential of many in Somalia, Artan\u2019s denial brought disappointment but reminded people what is possible if they chase their dreams.<\/p>\n

Artan\u2019s expected milestone at this year\u2019s World Cup \u201cstands no matter what,\u201d the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus \u2014 from neighboring Ethiopia \u2014 wrote Tuesday on X. \u201cYou reached the summit of your profession and inspired a generation back home just by getting there, and being kept off the pitch you earned doesn\u2019t change that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) \u2014 A World Cup referee from Somalia who was denied entry to the United States…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":857598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[69,2034,6061,57,73284,349223,221,73283,73285,62,7012,67,132,68,107],"class_list":["post-857597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-donald-trump","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-general-news","tag-mogadishu","tag-omar-artan","tag-soccer","tag-somalia","tag-somalia-government","tag-sports","tag-sports-officiating","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116726209360341571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}