Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan was denied entry into the United States in early June while en route to officiate at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Artan was stopped and interrogated for approximately 11 hours by US immigration officials at Miami International Airport before being refused entry and sent back to Turkey, assisted by FIFA officials, then returned to Mogadishu, Somalia [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
Artan, 34, traveled with a diplomatic passport and a valid single-entry US visa, both of which US authorities rejected. A government official cited Artan's alleged "association with suspected members of terror organizations" as the reason for the refusal [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Artan was specifically questioned about links to the Somali militant group Al Shabab but denied any knowledge or involvement[citation needed] [1, 7, 3, 4].
Artan was the 2025 Confederation of African Football (CAF) men's referee of the year and was set to become the first Somali to officiate a World Cup match [1, 8, 9, 10, 2, 7, 11, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Reflecting on the denial, he said, "I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa." He added, "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" [1]. In a statement in Chinese, he said he could not accept being labeled a terrorist and deported just for pursuing his dream [6].
FIFA pledged to pay Artan his full tournament fee despite his absence from the event. The exact payments to referees are only disclosed after the tournament, but the basic World Cup referee salary is estimated around $70,000 USD [1, 8, 9, 10, 2, 7, 11, 3, 4, 5, 6]. FIFA President Gianni Infantino advised to "chill and relax" when asked about the organization's failure to prevent Artan's visa refusal [11].
Upon returning home, Artan received a hero’s welcome in Somalia [1, 8, 9, 7, 6]. He vowed to keep working toward officiating at the 2030 World Cup [1, 2]. UEFA named Artan to referee the 2026 UEFA Super Cup match between Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa on August 12 in Salzburg, Austria [1, 8, 9, 10, 2, 7, 11, 5, 6].
