White House official defends decision to refuse entry to Somali referee ahead of World Cup

THE HEAD OF the White House Task Force for the World Cup has defended the decision not to grant visas to a Somali referee and some support staff for the Iranian team.

“To this point we’ve had 35 teams that have come into the United States,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the task force, said at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council in Washington.

“No players, no coaches have been denied,” Giuliani said. “There have been some officials that have been denied, and for good reason.”

A US State Department official told AFP that the referee was “associated with suspected members of terrorist organizations,” therefore “making the traveler ineligible for admission to the United States”.

Giuliani, the son of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, was asked specifically about the decision to bar Somali referee Omar Artan from entering the country.

“We’re striking that balance between making sure that any bad actors that…try to come into the country under the guise of the World Cup will not get access to the United States,” he added.

‘For very good reason’

Artan, who was named men’s referee of the year by the Confederation of African Football last year, would have been the first Somali to referee at a World Cup.

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He was turned back at the Miami airport.

Somalia is one of several countries on a travel ban list introduced by Donald Trump’s administration as part of a broader immigration crackdown.

In a phone interview with the New York Times, Artan said the “biggest dream of my life” had been ripped away.

He told the paper that after an 11-hour interview with border officials, he was taken to a separate holding cell where he was detained for several further hours before being put on a flight back to Istanbul.

“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,” he said.

“I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa.”

Fifa said it was powerless to influence the decision, which it said was down to tournament co-hosts the US.

“In line with previous FIFA events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country,” said a spokesperson for football’s governing body.

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Meanwhile, Iran, who will play their three group games on American soil, were forced to switch their training base to Mexico due to the ongoing military conflict with the US.

The Iranian football federation said that its allocation of tickets for supporters had been revoked and some team support staff were denied visas.

Giuliani said “all the Iranian coaching staff is coming in” but there are “some Iranian officials that are not coming in – again for very good reason”.

He said he “can’t get into the particulars” but “there are some people that claim that they are coaches that may not be coaches”.

Giuliani said Trump wants to make sure that there is a “level playing field” for all the teams taking part in the World Cup “while also making sure that people that are directly working, let’s say, with the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) have no ability to access the United States of America”.

The White House envoy also said there were currently “no credible threats” to the tournament, but the intelligence community is “tripled down” and will continue to monitor the situation “between now and whenever the final goal is scored on 19 July.”

With reporting from © AFP 2026 

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