MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) \u2014 A leading soccer referee from\u00a0Somalia\u00a0who was\u00a0denied entry to the United States\u00a0for the World Cup tournament was warmly received by a crowd of supporters and officials on Wednesday as he arrived home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Omar Artan, who was named as Africa\u2019s best male referee in 2025., said he plans to be at the next World Cup and urged Somali youth to be proud of their country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artan was set to be the\u00a0first referee from Somalia\u00a0to officiate at a World Cup after making FIFA\u2019s final list for the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was denied entry to the U.S. at Miami International Airport on Saturday over unspecified \u201cvetting concerns,\u201d\u00a0U.S. Customs and Border Protection\u00a0said in a statement, without giving details of the concerns.\u00a0FIFA\u00a0subsequently\u00a0cut him\u00a0from the tournament\u2019s referee list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artan was issued a visa to travel to the U.S. last week, according to the Somalia Embassy in Kenya, which processed it. The U.S. is co-hosting the tournament with Mexico and Canada, and Artan was due to meet up with other World Cup referees at their training base in Miami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arriving in the capital, Mogadishu, he thanked the Somali government and public as well as FIFA for their support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI promise you, God willing, that I will attend the next one,\u201d he said as hundreds of supporters at the airport waved Somali flags. \u201cI want the Somali public to take comfort in this and remain confident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later on Wednesday, thousands of soccer fans packed the stadium in Mogadishu for a welcome ceremony for Artan, with patriotic songs echoing through the arena as supporters waved the nation\u2019s flag and cheered him on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre also hosted Artan, writing in a post on X that the referee had \u201calready won the hearts of millions and secured his place in history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe devoted himself to ensuring that football was decided by merit, yet fate denied him the stage he so richly deserved,\u201d Barre said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S.’s highly unusual move to deny a FIFA-appointed match official permission to enter a World Cup host country drew outrage across the world and raised questions among some fans about America\u2019s capacity to host the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somalia is one of nearly 40 countries subject to new travel restrictions under the Trump administration\u2019s\u00a0crackdown on immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, the United Nations\u2019 top human rights official\u00a0called for a \u201cmassive rethink\u201d\u00a0of immigration policies especially in the United States around the World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hundreds of supporters, government officials and members of Somalia\u2019s football community gathered hours before Artan arrived at Aden Adde International Airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he disembarked, supporters waving Somali flags crowded around him before draping him in the flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was then escorted by police officers to the airport\u2019s VIP terminal, where he was welcomed by Somalia\u2019s sports minister and other dignitaries, and spoke to journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is up to all of us to defend the Somali name,\u201d Artan said. \u201cSomalia belongs to us, whether it is in a bad state or a good state. That flag belongs to us, and that passport belongs to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a country where decades of war and the rise of the al-Qaida-linked\u00a0al-Shabab\u00a0extremist group have limited the potential of many in Somalia, Artan\u2019s denial brought disappointment but reminded people what is possible if they chase their dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artan\u2019s expected milestone at this year\u2019s World Cup \u201cstands no matter what,\u201d the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus \u2014 from neighboring Ethiopia \u2014 wrote Tuesday on X. \u201cYou reached the summit of your profession and inspired a generation back home just by getting there, and being kept off the pitch you earned doesn\u2019t change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) \u2014 A leading soccer referee from\u00a0Somalia\u00a0who was\u00a0denied entry to the United States\u00a0for the World Cup tournament was warmly received by a crowd of supporters and officials on Wednesday as he arrived home. Omar Artan, who was named as Africa\u2019s best male referee in 2025., said he plans to be at the next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415924,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415923\/revisions\/415924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}