Somali Referee Barred From World Cup Over Terror-Ties Claim Gets UEFA Super Cup Instead

Omar Artan will walk onto the pitch at Red Bull Arena in Salzburg on Wednesday as the first non-European referee to take charge of the UEFA Super Cup. Two months ago, he couldn't get past Miami International Airport.

The 34-year-old Somali official was one of FIFA's selected referees for the 2026 World Cup. On June 6, he was turned away at the U.S. border. A State Department official told AFP he was deemed inadmissible because he was "associated with suspected members of terrorist organizations."

Artan denies it. No charges, indictment, or public evidence have been presented against him. The claim is an allegation from an unnamed U.S. official, not a finding from any court or tribunal, and it should be treated as exactly that: unproven.

Somalia is one of 12 countries on a U.S. travel ban list implemented last year under President Trump's administration, according to the Guardian. That policy is a legitimate exercise of executive authority over who enters the country, and previous administrations of both parties have maintained similar restrictions on countries with weak vetting infrastructure. Somalia has struggled for decades with al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda affiliate, which is a real security concern, not a manufactured one.

But a blanket country-level travel policy is a different thing than a specific accusation that a named individual is tied to a terrorist organization. Artan says that's false. Nobody has produced evidence to the contrary in public. That gap, between a serious accusation and zero disclosed proof, is the whole story here.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino, when asked about it at the time, punted. "It is unfortunate what happened to the referee from Somalia," he said, adding, "We don't control everything." That's a weak answer from the head of the organization that selected Artan for the World Cup panel in the first place. FIFA runs the tournament. If one of its own officials gets barred from doing his job over an unproven claim, "we don't control everything" is not accountability. It's a shrug.

Artan came home to a hero's welcome in Somalia anyway, according to Al Jazeera and thescore. The outrage there was real and understandable. He'd spent years climbing the ranks, becoming the first Somali to referee at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2024 and later CAF's Men's Referee of the Year for 2025, only to be locked out of the sport's biggest stage over an accusation nobody backed up publicly.

UEFA moved fast. Days after the airport incident, it announced Artan would referee the Super Cup, the annual match between the Champions League winner and Europa League winner. This year it's PSG against Aston Villa. UEFA points to a cooperation agreement it signed with the Confederation of African Football at the end of April as the official justification.

That's a real agreement and a real reason. UEFA has spent the last several weeks in an open power struggle with Infantino over his push to let private investors into the World Cup, a plan that collapsed largely because UEFA led a revolt against it, according to thescore. UEFA has floated boycotting FIFA tournaments to pressure Infantino to step down. Handing Artan the Super Cup, a marquee UEFA event, is also a pointed message to FIFA about who treats African officials with respect and who doesn't.

Artan says he doesn't care about the politics. "I was lucky, but I have worked very hard to be here and I'm really proud," he told UEFA. He's prepped for Wednesday