Football governing body Fifa has removed Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan from the 2026 World Cup officiating roster after American authorities denied him entry into the country, ending what would have been the first World Cup finals appearance by a Somali match official.
Artan, the Confederation of African Football’s men’s referee of the year in 2025, was barred from entering the US at Miami International Airport and is currently in Turkey.
US immigration authorities have not publicly provided a reason for the decision.
In a statement, Fifa said Artan would be unable to participate in the tournament after discussions with US authorities.
FIFA bends the knee to Trump.
Boycotting the circus is the only way.
Fuck the USA
He could have been given a match on in one of the other hosts.
Cowards.
Bootlicking toadies
I mean this is horrible treatment of him and obvious racism but I don’t think we can fault fifa for removing him for this. Like let’s say you are an expert in brain surgery and there is a conference on brain surgery in France. You plan to go and give a talk. You get to the airport and for any reason you are told you are not allowed to enter France. Your employer is notified. What should they do? Obvious answer to me try to ask nicely to please let you into France, if still denied assign a Co worker of you to give the talk in your place.
What else could fifa do? “well this guy isn’t able to referee so guess lets cancel the world cup” or maybe “technically he’s not allowed in the country but let’s sneak him in by putting him in a suit case and walking very confidently. Then we’ll put him on international TV showing him in the country” or “let’s hire a private militia and try to force the government to accept him”.
Obviously he should be allowed to referee and yes it obvious racism by the government(if there was a real reason they would of said that) and fifa is a corrupt evil company but… Isn’t this the only logical choice for fifa??
Fifa can easily demand the host country to fullfill their obligations, and if not they could let him referree World Cup matches in Mexico and Canada.
True about Mexico and Canada but a demand means nothing without a backing. Your boss can demand or you will be fired. A pilot can demand or you’re kicked off flight. An Uber driver can demand or you will be left behind. Fifa can demand and if denied(sounds like what happened), then what? Yeah it’s a fucked up situation and he should be allowed in to referee but I fifa has no authority to demand he’s allowed entry.
I mean FIFA kinda hosts the whole thing, they have significant power. But they gave Trump a FIFA peace prize and won’t ban Israel despite banning Russia.
The real reason FIFA won’t put in any efort is pretty obvious. It’s a sportswashing tool completely owned by the West.
They have power because they bring tourism to the cities, except they are not selling seats, hotel room or plane tickets as expected by investors according to articles I saw so what power do they have?
I think if FIFA was going to think logically, they wouldn’t be a corrupt, evil company.
Ok, so you are now in charge of fifa. How do you handle this situation?
Immediately dissolve FIFA, and turn myself in to the proper authorities, and still probably face basically no consequences.
Would you? Like really? That may be a good thought but you work your entire life to gain this career, you build a family on these resources, you build a life on soccer… A guy is not allowed into the US, fuck it let’s abandon everything and decide to live in a jail. Still guy is not allowed in to the US, games still go on but I must easy toast everyday for the rest of my life… Would you do that?
I can only say yes so many times, and also point out again that it would probably include like, a couple weeks or months of jail time, and then I’d be free to go do as much evil shit as I wanted.
