A Somali referee who was set to become the first from his country to officiate at a World Cup has said his life's dream has been shattered after being denied entry to the United States.
World governing body Fifa confirmed Omar Artan, who was selected as one of 52 referees for the tournament, will now be removed from its roster.
Artan, who has officiated at the Africa Cup of Nations, was turned away at Miami International Airport last weekend despite possessing valid travel documents.
Somalia is one of a number of countries whose citizens have been the subject of a complete ban on travel into the United States that was implemented in June last year.
“I am very, very disappointed,” Artan told The New York Times in a telephone interview from Istanbul. “I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup.
“I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa," he added, also saying that he showed border officials his Fifa documentation as well photographs of his career in an immigration interview that lasted 11 hours. “I think that they have a problem with my country."
Artan described how he had been preparing for the World Cup for four years, taking courses with Fifa in Qatar and in the UAE.
US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement: “The traveler underwent additional inspection, a routine part of C.B.P.’s inspection process when officers need to verify information or determine admissibility.
“Following inspection, the traveler, a referee for the FIFA World Cup, was determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry.”
Fifa have yet to explain why Artan could not have refereed games in the other two countries hosting the tournament - Canada and Mexico.
Earlier, Fifa had confirmed that Artan would be "unable to train and officiate at the tournament after being denied entry to the US.
“Fifa is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr Artan’s status will not be changed at present," Fifa said in their statement.
“In line with previous Fifa events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country.”
Iran is another country on the US banned list. The Iranian team will be based in Mexico during the tournament and must make fleeting visits to play their group matches in Los Angeles and Seattle.
While all Iranian players have been granted the required visas, the Iranian federation (IFF) says 14 members of support staff have been denied entry to the US for the tournament.
The IFF negotiated at the last minute to move the team’s base from Arizona to Tijuana, due in part to uncertainty over whether they would be granted visas to enter the US.
The US awarded visas to all the players on Friday, just 10 days before their first match, but rejected support staff, including “key managerial and administrative members”, according to the IFF.
They accused the US of “vindictive behaviour”. The list includes the federation's vice president Mehdi Mohammad Nabi and secretary-general Hedayat Mombeini.
Meanwhile, Iraq striker Aymen Hussein was held and questioned for nearly seven hours at Chicago's O'Hare airport after arriving with the squad early on Saturday, an Iraqi official told Reuters.
Hussein was finally allowed in, but the team's photographer was barred from entering, said the official who works for the Iraqi Olympic Committee.
Hussein's phone was inspected after he arrived, the official said. “National team photographer Talal Salah was held for more than 10 hours, underwent similar phone checks, and was ultimately denied entry into the United States,” he added.
On Monday, in footage widely shared on social media, the Senegal team was subjected to stringent searches on the tarmac upon arrival in San Antonio, Texas.
Further footage showed the Uzbekistan team being thoroughly searched as they arrived for a friendly match against the Netherlands on Monday. Their kit was inspected by police with sniffer dogs at the Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island, New York.
Journalists have also faced issues, with Gianni Merlo, the president of the International Sports Press Association, highlighting the difficulties experienced by many Iranian and African media members.
“We find ourselves facing a long-standing and unacceptable problem for us journalists: the denial of entry visas to regularly accredited colleagues,” Mr Merlo said in a statement.
“There are many cases: Iranian colleagues, African colleagues, some of whom have been given single entries, so if their team goes to play in Canada or Mexico and they follow it, they can no longer return to the States. The cases are countless and, I repeat, unacceptable.”
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani also criticised the situation, saying on Monday: “The denial of visas for journalists from certain countries, or the rejection of a visa for a coach of a team, as well as single-day visas for specific foreign national teams, this is anathema to what this tournament is supposed to be about.”
