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The Somali referee Omar Artan, who was refused entry to the US to officiate at the World Cup, has spoken publicly for the first time about the decision and detailed his pride as he prepares to take charge of Wednesday’s Super Cup between Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa. Uefa awarded Artan the game days after the 34-year-old was prevented from working at the tournament.
Artan will make history in Salzburg by becoming the first non-European official to take charge of Uefa’s annual competition between the Champions League winners and the Europa League champions. “When we got this call it was, for me and my family, really a very, very happy moment,” he said. “There’s a big Somali community in Europe and in Austria and they are over the moon with me officiating a match like this.”
Artan inadvertently found himself at the centre of controversy after being denied entry at Miami international airport on 6 June. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, suggested he was powerless to overrule Donald Trump’s administration. Somalia is one of 12 countries on a travel ban list introduced by the US last year.
“It was a very tough period,” Artan said. “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. I really appreciate the support I received throughout the world, though; I’m so grateful.”
Artan has prepared for the match at the Red Bull Arena by taking charge of league games in Somalia and the Kuwaiti Premier League. “We referees go through a lot of preparation in terms of getting to know the teams,” he said in an interview with Uefa. “I always watch the teams play. I like watching European football anyway but, regardless, I go through and do a lot of research on the teams, how they play, learn their behaviours, tactics.”
Artan will be assisted by two more African officials on Wednesday, Liban Abdoulrazack Ahmed (Djibouti) and Stephen Eleazar Onyango Yiembe (Kenya).
