Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan will not participate in the upcoming World Cup, despite being initially selected among the 52 central referees chosen by FIFA for the tournament.
The 34-year-old official, regarded as one of the best African referees of 2025, saw his World Cup dream come to a sudden halt after an incident upon his arrival in the United States, the host country of the tournament along with Canada and Mexico. According to his statements, he was turned away after a long and grueling process at the border controls.
In an interview with the New York Times, he expressed deep disappointment over the situation. He said, “I’m just a referee trying to live my biggest dream, to go to the World Cup,” while insisting he had presented “the right papers and the correct visa” to enter the United States.
According to his account, the referee underwent an interrogation lasting about 11 hours upon arrival, focusing on his personal background and questions related to Somalia and the jihadist group Al-Shabaab. After this examination, authorities informed him of his deportation back to Turkey, the country he had traveled from. He believes this decision may be linked to biases related to his nationality, stating, “I think they have a problem with my country.”
On the American side, U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that a Somali national arriving on June 6 at Miami Airport underwent a thorough inspection. The agency stated that this additional inspection led to him being declared “inadmissible due to issues related to his background check,” without providing further details on the exact nature of the examined elements.
This administrative decision resulted in his immediate deportation back to Turkey, where he was before traveling to the United States. This exclusion ends his participation in the World Cup, a competition for which he had been officially selected by FIFA after several years of progress on the international refereeing scene.
The reaction from Somali authorities was swift. The Somali Ministry of Youth and Sports expressed support for the referee, praising “the integrity, professionalism, and ongoing contribution to the development of football” of Omar Artan. In a statement relayed by the BBC, they also expressed “deep regret over the circumstances that prevented Omar Artan from participating in the tournament,” despite diplomatic efforts made with American authorities and FIFA.
Beyond this individual case, this incident raises questions about the entry and screening procedures applied to international participants in a major sporting event like the World Cup. It comes at a time when security requirements at U.S. borders remain particularly strict for certain nationalities.
For Omar Abdulkadir Artan, this exclusion represents a significant setback in his career, as he hoped to officiate on the biggest stage in world football after being recognized among the elite refereeing ranks in Africa.
