Does referee case show Fifa has lost control of its own World Cup?

There had always been real concerns that supporters would have difficulties getting into the United States for the 2026 World Cup.

But not a referee.

The tournament is supposed to bring together the best of the best in football – players, coaches and officials.

Omar Artan is the number one referee from Africa. He will not be allowed to officiate at the World Cup.

Artan, from Somalia, flew into Miami to join up with the other 51 referees. After what he says was an 11-hour grilling by immigration officials, he was put back on a plane.

“It is pretty clear that the fears of an ideological and discriminatory visa policy from the US government is being realised,” said Piara Powar, executive director of discrimination campaign group Fare.

“Never have we seen the farce of an official Fifa referee being refused entry as he arrives for final preparations.”

Concerns remain about the potential presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at stadiums, and how fans could be affected.

With 48 hours still to go until the World Cup kicks off, does Fifa have little control about what will happen outside the stadiums?

After the controversy of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments in Russia and Qatar, the 2026 edition was supposed to give everyone a chance to concentrate on the football.

Remarkably, this World Cup is in danger of being more controversial.

The astronomical cost of tickets, a subpoena over ticket practices, criticism of Fifa over hotel bookings and transport prices have dogged the build-up.

But this story is about a member of Fifa’s own delegation being subjected to hours of questioning before being put on a flight back to from where they came.

Artan had a year to remember in 2025, becoming the first Somali to take charge of a continental final.

In June 2025, he officiated the second leg of Pyramids FC’s African Champions League final victory over Mamelodi Sundowns.

Fifa appointed Artan to the U-20 World Cup in Chile, where he took charge of three matches including the third-place play-off.

At the end of the year he refereed two group games at the Africa Cup of Nations, having also officiated at the tournament in 2024.

Then in March 2026, Artan received the ultimate accolade which should have been the pinnacle of his career.

“Every referee’s ambition is to go to the World Cup,” Artan told BBC Somali in an interview last week.

“When you are selected, you feel that all your hard work was worth it. Years of effort finally made sense.”

Artan should have become the first Somali to officiate at the World Cup. Instead, he is en route back to the capital, Mogadishu.

Artan told the New York Times how he faced an 11-hour immigration interview, and was then detained for several hours.

“I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa,” Artan said.

Speaking to BBC World Service, Andrew Giuliani, who leads the White House Task Force on the World Cup, said: “While I can’t go into the derog [derogatory information] on that I can tell you it was the right decision by customs and border patrol and I support that decision.”

The referee’s story tells us that no-one is going to receive special treatment from this administration. That includes national team delegates and supporters.

“Every few hours it’s another story, another story about fans denied, players denied, officials denied, journalists denied, now refs,” former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright posted on Instagram.

“This is a World Cup of chaos.”

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has ingratiated himself with United States President Donald Trump over the past two years.

Trump was controversially awarded the first-ever Fifa Peace Prize, handed out during the World Cup draw ceremony in December.

Just a few weeks later, American forces captured the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro following strikes on the country at the start of the year.

Then in February, the US joined forces with Israel to launch attacks on Iran. For the first time, a World Cup host will be at war with one of the visiting nations.

When Trump first took office as president in 2017, one of his first executive orders was to ban travel by foreign nationals from seven majority-Muslim countries – including Somalia.

At that time, Infantino suggested such a move could invalidate a country’s World Cup hosting rights.

“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,” Infantino said.

In 2023, Fifa did strip Indonesia of hosting rights for the U-20 World Cup after Bali’s governor Wayan Koster refused to allow the Israel team to stay.

Infantino’s previous words now seem hollow when it comes to the US.

In June 2025, Trump placed a full entry ban under any visa category, covering 12 countries – including Somalia and three World Cup finalists (DR Congo, Iran and Haiti).

Comments made by Trump just two days before the World Cup draw in December 2025 drew widespread attention.

An immigration enforcement operation was being planned in Minnesota, home to a large community of Somalians.

Trump said: “With Somalia, which is barely a country, you know, they have no anything. They just run around killing each other. There’s no structure.”

The president added that the Somali immigrants should “go back to where they came from” and that the US would “go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country”.

Against this backdrop as a Somalian national, Artan’s position has long been in the making.

Fifa said it “is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications”.

But it raises questions, considering the background, about how Fifa allowed it to get to this stage.

How could one of its own referees travel to the tournament and be turned away at immigration?

In the past, World Cup hosts have tended to give Fifa what they want – and that includes easy access for officials and supporters.

It has been the case with two of the most divisive World Cups, in Russia and Qatar.

Indeed, Russia positively rolled out the red carpet in 2018, removing any need for a visa.

All supporters required was a valid passport and personalised card known as a ‘Fan ID’ to prove they were travelling for the football.

In Qatar, fans needed a Hayya card – serving a dual purpose as a pre-screened travel entry document and an entry pass to games.

That is not the case in the United States, with claims that barriers have consistently put fans off making the trip.

“You’re supposed to be welcoming fans from around the world,” Thomas Concannon, who leads the FSA’s England fans’ group, told BBC Sport in April.

“And I think at this stage, fans couldn’t feel less welcome.”

It is not even as though Trump inherited the tournament from another administration. It was endorsed and backed by his presidency, with the intention to bid lodged a few months after he took office in 2017.

What has changed is the sheer extent of the immigration crackdown.

Trump is happy to take the plaudits for the glitz and the glamour of the World Cup, but it will not distract from that key aim.

It is not just Artan who cannot get into the United States. Supporters of Iraq, which is not on the banned list, have described how they have given up trying to get into the country.

Iran, meanwhile, on Tuesday said its allocation of tickets for the group stage has been revoked, because of a decision taken by US authorities.

Infantino’s words seem hollow. It is clear that this Trump administration has placed immigration above anything else – including this World Cup.

The next test will come on Sunday, when Iran are due to fly into the United States for the first time.

Iran has accused the US of denying visas to 15 “integral” members of their backroom staff.

The squad are permitted to fly in and out of the country from Tijuana in Mexico within 24 hours for each match – but this has yet to be tested.

If a team cannot attend their own game, it would be another unprecedented twist.

“Never have we seen so many World Cup coaches, team operations, fans and even senior administrators within Fifa member associations, subject to so much interrogation and exclusion,” Fare’s Powar added.

“The disruption is such that one has to ask who is running the World Cup. Is it Fifa or is it the US government with its racially charged immigration policies?”

As Fifa cannot get all of its referees into the country, it feels like the US government is in control.