Omar Abdulkadir Artan, the Somali referee denied entry into the United States and barred from officiating at the 2026 World Cup, was allegedly communicating with "some very bad people," according to a senior Trump administration official.
Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House World Cup Task Force, told CBS News that the decision to deny Artan entry into the United States was justified, though he declined to provide specific details.
"In the case of the referee there, he was talking to some very bad people right as he was coming to the United States," Giuliani said in an interview June 14. "There's some classified information we can't discuss now. At some point, that may be released."
Giuliani said he could not disclose who Artan was allegedly communicating with but said the contacts occurred "immediately before" his trip to the United States.
As CBS News reported, another Trump administration official said last week that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers identified "derogatory information" while vetting Artan upon his arrival at Miami International Airport. According to the official, the information included an "association with suspected members of terror organizations" although officials have not released evidence supporting that claim.
Upon arriving in Miami, Artan said he was questioned by authorities about alleged ties to the Somali militant group al-Shabab and told officials he knew nothing about the organization. FIFA previously said it conducted a three-year vetting process before selecting Artan and the other referees chosen to officiate at the World Cup.
"I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa," Artan said, as reported by the BBC. "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."
Despite being barred from officiating at the tournament, Artan will still be compensated by FIFA for his assigned matches, although the exact amount remains unclear because it depends on how many games he would have worked.
In the aftermath of the controversy, Artan was selected by UEFA, Europe's governing soccer body, to officiate the UEFA Super Cup between Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain and Europa League winner Aston Villa in Salzburg, Austria, in August.
