Somali referee barred from US entry days before World Cup, as Trump immigration policies cast shadow over tournament

A referee's dream cut short

Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan was denied entry to the United States on Saturday at Miami International Airport, five days before the 2026 FIFA World Cup was set to begin. Artan, 34, was one of 52 referees selected for the tournament and would have been the first Somali to officiate a World Cup match. He was named Africa's best male referee in 2025 by the Confederation of African Football and had officiated the African Champions League final that same year.

Artan told the New York Times he was subjected to an 11-hour immigration interview, during which border officials questioned him about Somali politics and the al-Shabab militant group. Despite presenting FIFA documentation, photographs from his refereeing career, and a visa that the Somalia Embassy in Kenya confirmed had been issued the previous week, he was placed in a holding cell and then put on a flight back to Istanbul.

I am very, very disappointed. I am just a referee trying to fulfil his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup.

US Customs and Border Protection said Artan was "determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns" without elaborating. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, said the denial was "for very good reasons" but also declined to provide specifics.

Wider pattern of entry denials

Artan's case is not isolated. The Iraqi national team's official photographer, Talal Salah, was detained and denied entry after arriving at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Several members of Iran's coaching staff were refused visas, and the Iranian team, which arrived in Mexico on Sunday, must enter and exit the US "the same day" for its group-stage matches in Seattle and Los Angeles, according to Iran's ambassador to Mexico. The president of Iran's football federation, Medhi Taj, said the team may be allowed entry one or two days before matches, but uncertainty remains.

Dozens of fans from countries including Morocco have been denied travel visas despite holding match tickets. Journalists from Iran and African nations have also reported visa problems. Gianni Merlo, president of the International Sports Press Association, said some colleagues received only single-entry visas.

On one hand, it has more teams than ever participating. On the other hand, because of the policies of the Trump administration, it looks more like a World Cup of exclusion than inclusion.

The travel ban list and affected teams

Nearly 40 countries are under full or partial US travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration. For 19 of those countries, the State Department has suspended issuing all visas. Four nations on those lists — Iran, Haiti, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal — are expected to play in the World Cup. Somalia, Artan's home country, is among the countries whose citizens face a ban on travel to the United States.

Senegalese supporters, known as the Lions of the Téranga, will not be able to travel to the US. One fan told Franceinfo: "We have our lives here, our work. We just want to go to the World Cup, bring our culture, encourage our team and come back."

FIFA's response

FIFA removed Artan from the tournament roster following the denial. In a statement, the governing body said: "FIFA does not intervene in the immigration procedures of the host country, including the issuance of visas." The federation added that it is the host government that ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted to its territory.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino had said in August 2025 that "everyone will be welcome in Mexico, Canada and the United States for the World Cup" and that the visa process "will go smoothly." Ten months later, with 48 hours until kick-off, that assurance has collided with enforcement on the ground.

The whole nation is pissed off now. This tournament should be given to a country that gives everybody equal opportunity.

A tournament under strain

The 2026 World Cup, the first expanded to 48 teams, was intended to be a global celebration after the controversies surrounding the 2018 and 2022 editions in Russia and Qatar. Instead, the build-up has been marked by the astronomical cost of tickets, a subpoena over ticketing practices, criticism of FIFA over hotel bookings and transport prices, and now a cascade of immigration incidents affecting participants and fans alike.

Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright posted on Instagram: "Every few hours it's another story, another story about fans denied, players denied, officials denied, journalists denied, now refs. This is a World Cup of chaos."