Somali referee speaks out after being refused entry into US for World Cup 2026

Somalia's government said it had unsuccessfully tried to negotiate with the U.S. and FIFA so that Artan could enter the country - (AP)

Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan says he has had his World Cup dreams dashed after he was refused entry at the US border.

“I am very, very disappointed,” Artan told The New York Times in a telephone interview from Istanbul, where he was flown to after being turned away. “I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup. I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa.”