UEFA compensates Somali referee who was vetoed by the US during World Cup

At 9.00pm on Wednesday at the Red Bull Arena in Salzburg, Austria, for the first time in history a non-European referee will officiate a Super Cup soccer final, a competition that began in 1973. Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan was selected two months ago by the European football governing body UEFA to referee the match between the Champions League winner, Paris Saint-Germain, and the Europa League winner, Aston Villa. The decision carries great symbolism after the U.S. government denied the referee entry to its territory in June and prevented him from becoming the first from his country to officiate in a World Cup.

“A lot of people have sympathy for me because, when someone has been ‌working ⁠a lot of years and is supposed to do something and then can’t do it, it’s very challenging,” said Artan on Monday in an interview with UEFA.

The referee, for whom FIFA could not secure entry amid Washington’s stringent customs restrictions, is now being compensated by UEFA, which has placed him in the spotlight on the big stage that kicks off the European football season.

The backdrop to the story is UEFA’s ongoing conflict with FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, stoked by the failed plan with which the latter recently sought to create a company called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) to commercially exploit the men’s and women’s World Cups with 20% of private capital.

In June FIFA sought to negotiate with U.S. authorities to secure Artan’s entry to the U.S., but was met with a firm refusal. The veto was a blow, and it also sparked a wave of criticism of U.S. president Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies for directly affecting the sporting heart of the tournament.

“I was lucky, but I have worked very hard to be here and I’m really proud. As you can imagine, I grew up in a difficult situation, but it didn’t prevent me from pursuing my dreams,” said Artan, whose father died when he was a child, who was raised away from his mother and who turned to refereeing after an injury ended his hopes of becoming a player.

Artan will step onto the Red Bull Arena stadium in Salzburg, Austria as UEFA’s opposition to the embattled Infantino gains momentum. On Monday the body published a joint letter with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) condemning FIFA’s actions, saying there has been “a breach of trust” at top levels “through deception” in connection with the rejected plan to commercialize World Cup rights with private capital. The agreement envisaged potential investors including Thrive Capital, founded by Josh Kushner, whose brother Jared is Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

The relationship between the U.S. president and Infantino began to strengthen in 2018 after the country’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup alongside Mexico and Canada. Since then, their ties tightened to the point that the second major World Cup controversy involved the red card FIFA rescinded from U.S. forward Folarin Balogun so he could play in the round of 16 — an unprecedented decision made after Trump phoned Infantino. With the latter’s leadership increasingly under question, it was Trump who in the early hours of Tuesday went to his defense on his social platform, Truth Social: “FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino.”

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