Omar Abdulkadir: First Somali World Cup referee to be barred from entering the US

 

Omar Abdulkadir: First Somali World Cup referee to be barred from entering the US

 

Omar Artan, who was set to become the first Somali referee to officiate at the World Cup finals, has been removed from the tournament's list of officials after being denied entry to the United States.

Omar Artan was named the 2025 male referee of the year by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). He was denied entry to the United States at Miami International Airport and is currently in Turkey.

US immigration officials did not give an official reason for his refusal of entry, but Somalia is among the countries on the list of countries on the travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump's administration.

After contacting US authorities, world football's governing body FIFA confirmed that Omar Artan will not be able to coach or referee at the 2026 World Cup.

FIFA said in a statement that Omar Abdulkader Artan will not be able to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup due to his denial of entry to the United States.

The statement added that FIFA does not participate in decisions related to immigration and visas of the host country, and officials have informed that Omar Artan’s immigration status will not be changed at this time.

According to FIFA, this time too, as in past tournaments, the host government decides who is granted a visa and who is allowed to enter the country.

Meanwhile, in the shadow of war, the Iranian team has also faced numerous problems in obtaining visas to travel to the United States.

When Iran qualified for the World Cup on March 25 last year, perhaps no one could have foreseen the problems that were to arise. Nearly a year later, Iran’s participation in the world tournament has become a most complicated story, as Iran is playing in a host country that, along with Israel, carried out attacks on Iran that killed the country’s supreme leader, a dispute that continues to this day.

The Iranian team was among the early qualifiers for the tournament, but its members only received US visas last Friday. Several members of the Iranian squad, including the head of the Iranian Football Federation, Mehdi Taj, were denied visas.

The US State Department told the BBC that visas had been issued to players and essential staff, but added that "the Iranian team will not be allowed to take advantage of the US system to bring terrorists into the US under false pretenses."

Iranian Ambassador to Mexico Abolfazl said the Iranian team had been told that under visa conditions, the players would only be able to enter US soil on the day of the match and would have to leave the country on the same day.

The Iranian team is currently based in Mexico, while according to the previous schedule, they were to stay in the US state of Arizona. However, the Iranian team will play all three group stage matches in the US, including matches against New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles and against Egypt in Seattle.

40 years of tension

Iran-US relations deteriorated four decades ago during the Iranian revolution when protesters took over the US embassy in Tehran and took staff hostage. Formal diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed.

In such a situation, the football field became a direct link between the two countries, the most famous of which was the 1998 World Cup in France when Iran defeated the United States 2-1. Due to its political significance, this match attracted the attention of the whole world and became a memorable match in the history of the World Cup.

 

Before the match started, Iranian players presented white roses to the members of the US team as a sign of peace. The two teams met again in Qatar in 2022, when the United States defeated Iran 1-0.

There is also a possibility that Iran and the United States could meet in the current tournament. Under the current format of the World Cup, the two teams could compete in the knockout stage and the importance of this match will be quite high in the context of the recent war between the two countries.

Football: The sport that once united Iran

The relationship between Iran’s national football team and the Iranian people seems more complicated than in the past.

Traditionally, Iran’s football team has been an institution that has enjoyed support from all quarters, despite political and social divisions. The team enjoyed widespread public support during the 2014 and 2018 World Cups.

 

However, when protests erupted in the country ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, following the death of a woman in police custody, things changed and the Iranian football team found itself at the center of a political debate.

Some Iranians expected the team’s players to show solidarity with the protesters, while others insisted that players stay out of politics. The 2026 World Cup also comes six months after a crackdown on anti-government protesters, during which human rights groups say thousands of people have been killed.

Some fans see the team as a symbol of national pride, despite political differences. But on the other hand, there is also a group that is now more critical than ever and believes that the players and the team are so close to state institutions that they cannot be seen separately from the political establishment.

This does not mean that support for the team has waned. Football is the most popular sport in Iran and millions of people follow the team's activities in the United States closely.

But this time, with 48 teams, there are more opportunities and Iran may be considering reaching the knockout stage this time.

Football World Cups often reflect the political realities of their time. But despite this, between diplomatic isolation, military conflict, visa uncertainty and divided support due to political divisions in their own country, hardly any other team has faced so many problems in the past.