World Cup 2026: Controversy after the Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the United States.

The international Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, appointed to officiate at the 2026 World Cup, was denied entry to the United States at Miami airport on Saturday, June 6. A U.S. administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated on Tuesday evening that this denial was motivated by “association with individuals allegedly linked to terrorist organizations,” without providing any public evidence to support this claim.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) initially cited “concerns related to control” in a statement, without specifying the nature of those concerns. According to the official quoted by several U.S. media outlets, unfavorable information may have rendered the referee inadmissible under the immigration and nationality law, with the administration believing he posed a national security threat. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House working group on the World Cup, earlier mentioned a “very good reason” without detailing it. Omar Artan is not currently facing any known charges, and the procedure falls under an administrative decision of inadmissibility, rather than a judicial instance.

The referee provided a different account to the New York Times. He claimed to have been questioned for eleven hours at Miami airport, asked about Somali politics and the armed Islamist group al-Shabaab, which is in insurrection against the government of Mogadishu. He states that he presented his FIFA documents and photographs from his career before being placed in a cell and then sent back to Istanbul, from where he had taken his connecting flight. A visa had been issued to him the previous week, with his file processed in Nairobi, according to the Somali embassy in Kenya. “I think they have a problem with my country,” he told the newspaper, asserting that he received no explanation.

FIFA confirmed that their official would neither train nor officiate during the tournament. The organization stated that it does not intervene in the immigration procedures of host countries and was informed that the referee’s situation would “not change at this time.” Its president, Gianni Infantino, deemed the incident regrettable while emphasizing that the organization does not control all related decisions.

A Top Referee in Africa

At 34 years old, Omar Artan was set to become the first Somali referee to officiate in a World Cup. He has officiated international matches for several years, including African Cup of Nations games, and was named the best referee of the year by the Confederation of African Football in 2025. On May 24, he officiated the return leg of the African Champions League final between AS FAR of Rabat and Mamelodi Sundowns, in Rabat.

Upon returning to Mogadishu on Wednesday, he was welcomed by supporters and government officials. Ciise Aden Abshir, an advisor at the Somali Ministry of Youth and Sports and a former captain of the national team, condemned the American decision to Agence France-Presse, describing the referee as “among the most respected in Africa” and stating that this refusal conflicted with the spirit of fairness in football.

An American Immigration Restrictions Context

The refusal faced by Omar Artan is part of the tightening of immigration policy conducted under the presidency of Donald Trump. Somalia is among nearly forty countries whose nationals face entry restrictions into the United States. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott defended the practice of admission refusals at an event in Washington, stating that “the law remains the law.”

The 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, kicks off this week. As matches are distributed between the three countries, the referee would have been excluded from matches held on American soil, specifically 28 of the 78 group stage matches, according to several British media outlets.