A Fifa official since 2018, Omar Artan was set to be the first Somali to referee at the World Cup finals

Football governing body Fifa has removed Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan from the 2026 World Cup officiating roster after American authorities denied him entry into the country, ending what would have been the first World Cup finals appearance by a Somali match official.

Artan, the Confederation of African Football’s men’s referee of the year in 2025, was barred from entering the US at Miami International Airport and is currently in Turkey.

US immigration authorities have not publicly provided a reason for the decision.

In a statement, Fifa said Artan would be unable to participate in the tournament after discussions with US authorities.

  • vrek@programming.devEnglish
    51·
    4 hours ago

    I mean this is horrible treatment of him and obvious racism but I don’t think we can fault fifa for removing him for this. Like let’s say you are an expert in brain surgery and there is a conference on brain surgery in France. You plan to go and give a talk. You get to the airport and for any reason you are told you are not allowed to enter France. Your employer is notified. What should they do? Obvious answer to me try to ask nicely to please let you into France, if still denied assign a Co worker of you to give the talk in your place.

    What else could fifa do? “well this guy isn’t able to referee so guess lets cancel the world cup” or maybe “technically he’s not allowed in the country but let’s sneak him in by putting him in a suit case and walking very confidently. Then we’ll put him on international TV showing him in the country” or “let’s hire a private militia and try to force the government to accept him”.

    Obviously he should be allowed to referee and yes it obvious racism by the government(if there was a real reason they would of said that) and fifa is a corrupt evil company but… Isn’t this the only logical choice for fifa??