FIFA President, Gianni Infantino has reacted to the recent denial of Somali referee Omar Artan from entering the United States for the 2026 World Cup.
Earlier in the week, Artan was not allowed into the U.S despite being the 2025 African referee of the year at the CAF awards.
It would be recalled that President Donald Trump placed a travel ban on Somalia and the likes of Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Myanmar (Burma), Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and individuals with Palestinian Authority in January.
Artan is an official referee in the Somalia first division league and member of FIFA listed referees as well.
But his failure to enter into the host country of the global showpiece has raised a lot of concerns, coupled with the current troubles with Iran national team and fans.
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Speaking at a Conference on Wednesday night, Infantino, who narrowed his speech to three major talking points – visa, tickets, and Iran – said the situation was unfortunate.
“It is unfortunate what happened to the referee from Somalia. Again, we don’t control everything. We try, we will discuss, we will speak, we will see,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s good to chill, relax, we work on everything, we try to solve everything. Sometimes to immediately start screaming and shouting has the opposite effect of finding a solution.
“Believe me when I tell you, we always try to find solutions. But we need to respect we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces. We are a sports organisation.”
There has also been displeasure in some quarters over the pricing of tickets ahead of the World Cup, and Infantino responded to it during the conference.
He said: “Let me just say that our entry price, which is 60 dollars, is the lowest entry price of any of the American sports in the play-off phases, our average price which is below 500 dollars is again the lowest of the American sports on average.”
On Iran, he said: “I am very happy we managed to get Iran to come and play. I am proud of the work of my team.”
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will finally kick off tomorrow (Thursday) with the opening game between Mexico and South Africa.
(Ripples)