Refereeing at the 2026 Fifa World Cup was set to be the highlight of Omar Artan’s career, but the Somali will miss out on the opportunity to take charge of matches on the game’s biggest stage after being denied entry to the United States. The 34-year-old, who was set to become the first man from his country to play an on-pitch role at the finals, wasturned away by border officials in Miamidespite holding a diplomatic passport and a single-entry US visa. “Every referee’s ambition is to go to the World Cup,” Artan told BBC Somali in an interview last week before leaving home.
“When you are selected, you feel that all your hard work was worth it. It was a moment where everything came into focus. Artan, who was named the best male referee in Africa last year and took charge of two matches at the recent Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), had been hailed as “a symbol of inspiration for the new generation of Somalis” by the country’s President Hassan Mohamud after being included in the list of Fifa match officials.
The Somali government is mounting diplomatic efforts in a bid to resolve the issue, but Artan looks set to be excluded from the World Cup after rising through the officiating ranks in a country which has been troubled by conflict in recent decades. The US State Department told BBC Africa that it welcomes “legitimate travellers” to the World Cup and adjudicates each visa application on a case-by-case basis “after rigorous review and thorough vetting”. It also cited “national security and public safety” as other factors in their visa process. For now Artan remains in Turkey’s main city Istanbul following his removal from US soil, but it is believed he will return to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Wednesday.
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