Omar Artan is very good at his job; he deserves to do it wherever he is called. Omar Artan did everything he could to get a diplomatic visa and iron out the issues of access; so too did his home country. Omar Artan was elected to Fifa’s elite refereeing list by world football’s governing body – it has vouched for him.
So the absence of the Somalian referee from the World Cup is a stain on the tournament and the sport. It is a line in the sand, a new low. For all of the relevant human rights issues and geopolitical machinations of Russia and Qatar, all of which drew deserved scrutiny, we never witnessed anything quite like this.
In 2017, Donald Trump’s first presidential term, and subsequent travel bans imposed on mainly Muslim countries, coincided with the 2026 World Cup bidding process. Fifa president Gianni Infantino issued a warning: “Teams who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. That is obvious. It’s obvious when it comes to Fifa competitions, any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup.
“The requirements will be clear. And then each country can make up their decision, whether they want to bid or not based on the requirements.”
