World Cup Referee Omar Artan Denied Entry To United States

Somalian referee Omar Artan will no longer officiate the World Cup after being denied entry into the United States.

Artan, the 2025 Confederation of African Football men's referee of the year, was barred from entering the U.S. after arriving at Miami International Airport on Saturday. No reason was given, but Somalia is on a list of banned countries for immigration introduced by the Trump administration.

FIFA confirmed in a statement that Artan won't be able to get into the country and officiate World Cup matches.

"FIFA is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr Artan's status will not be changed at present," FIFA said, via the BBC. "In line with previous FIFA events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country."

"I had the right papers and everything"

According to Matthew Mpoke Bigg of the New York Times, Artan and Somalia's Ministry of Youth and Sports both said that he had the proper travel visa to enter the United States.

He was set to be the first referee from Somalia ever to officiate a World Cup final. On-pitch officials must stay in Florida for training and preparation, so Artan can't work matches in Mexico or Canada.

"I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa," Artan said. "... I'm 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."

Despite having his dream dashed, the 34-year-old issued a diplomatic statement on Monday.

"Despite the circumstances, I am in a positive mood and I am focused on the next challenges in my refereeing career," Artan said, via ESPN. "I would like to thank FIFA and [the African federation] for all their support and I promise to keep my refereeing levels up as I concentrate on the future. I want to thank the football family for their messages and wish my colleagues all the best success during the World Cup and I look forward to joining them again in future competitions."

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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 2:13 PM.