The tournament that turns the world away - Entry bans, searches, and humiliation

Omar Abdulkadir Artan was supposed to become the first Somali to referee a World Cup match. In Miami, he was denied entry, and the governing body that profits from this spectacle says it bears no responsibility. Other teams were also humiliated and treated as though they were criminals rather than guests.

A tournament that calls itself the tournament of the world begins by leaving the world standing outside the door. Three days before kickoff, the man who would have become the first Somali ever to officiate a World Cup match was not standing on the field but was turned away. Omar Abdulkadir Artan, named Referee of the Year by the African confederation in 2025, arrived Saturday in Miami from Istanbul and, after screening, was denied entry into the country because of security screening concerns, according to US Customs and Border Protection, despite reports that he held a valid visa in his hand.

FIFA confirmed that Artan will neither train nor officiate at the tournament. It begins on June 11 in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, with most matches hosted by the United States. Authorities did not identify the individual by name, but among all referees he is the only one from Somalia. The man who was supposed to uphold the rules of the game was stopped by the rules of a state. His own response carried more dignity than the situation deserved. Despite everything, Artan said, he remained positive and was focusing on what comes next. He thanked FIFA and the African confederation, thanked the football family for their messages, and wished his colleagues success, hoping to return at future competitions. That is how a person speaks when something unjust has happened to him and those who should have stood beside him did not.

FIFA chose restrained words. Immigration procedures, it said, were not under its authority, and officials had informed them that Artan’s status was not expected to change for now, and as with previous events, the host government ultimately decides on visas and entry. It is the language of an institution that keeps the revenue and passes along responsibility. Support from FIFA: none.

The host made its decision a year ago. In June 2025, Trump issued an order suspending entry for Somali nationals and described Somalia as a safe haven for terrorists. That followed an earlier directive from January ordering reviews of countries whose verification information was considered insufficient as part of a broader hard line immigration policy. Alongside Somalia, entry restrictions also apply to Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Sudan, and Yemen.

Border authorities wrapped the process in the usual language of procedure. Every traveler is screened, they said. The traveler underwent additional inspection, as is standard when officers verify information or determine admissibility. Afterward, they declared the traveler, a World Cup referee, inadmissible and turned him away. Such decisions are made case by case, based on available law enforcement, national security, and immigration information. That is how a person turned away at the door becomes a procedure that explains itself and explains nothing.

Artan is not alone. Uzbekistan’s national team was subjected to extensive searches in New York, their luggage and documents were taken, and they were sent through metal detectors. Before that, Senegal’s delegation and Iraq’s team had already been subjected to thorough inspections. The host invites the world and searches it at the threshold.

Former Arsenal player and now commentator Ian Wright called the whole thing a World Cup of chaos. Every few hours, he said, there is another story: rejected fans, rejected players, rejected officials, rejected journalists, and now referees. He laughs, but there is nothing funny about it. Tickets are the most expensive they have ever been, accommodations and transportation costs have reached absurd levels. So this is how a host behaves for the world’s biggest sporting event? Is this the spirit of football? He said he felt sorry for American fans who had been looking forward to this tournament and imagined how embarrassed many of them must feel. Whoever wins this chaos, he said, will first have had to fight through an enormous amount of chaos.

Football has always carried the promise that it brings together what politics divides. At the checkpoints in Miami and the inspections in New York, that promise revealed its limits. Money governs, and where money governs, those who should intervene stay silent, first the federations, then the teams whose colleague disappears without their tournament stopping because of it. Perhaps that is the bitter lesson of these days: the abyss into which this sport has played itself no longer even stands out because the celebration around it is so loud. The goals will be counted and the winner celebrated. The referee from Somalia, who was supposed to protect the rules and instead remained stuck at a border, will hardly be missed in the noise.