Somali referee denied US entry before World Cup debut

About this episode

Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry into the US, missing his World Cup officiating debut.

Somali soccer referee Omar Artan was denied entry into the United States on June 6, 2026, forcing him to miss his historic FIFA World Cup officiating debut. The 34-year-old, who was named Africa's best male referee in 2025, was set to become the first person from Somalia to ever officiate at a World Cup finals. Despite holding a valid single-entry US visa and a diplomatic passport, Artan was detained at Miami International Airport for 11 hours before being flown back to Istanbul, Turkey. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/today-explained--6659607/support . Don’t miss our latest episodes! follow us to stay updates with fresh news everyday. Let’s keep the support our podcast to serve update news entire the world!

Topics covered

• soccer
• referee
• World Cup
• visa issues
• Somalia
• sports news

Keywords

• Omar Artan
• referee
• World Cup
• visa
• Somalia
• FIFA
• soccer

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Africa

Places: United States, Somalia, Istanbul

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