Omar Artan to officiate Super Cup final after World Cup rejection
Africa’s number one referee Omar Artan has been earmarked to officiate the 2026 UEFA Super Cup final between PSG and Aston Villa after being denied the opportunity to officiate at the 2026 World Cup.
Recall that the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had revealed in a statement that the Somali referee was denied entry into the country because he was a threat to national security.
The CBP added that Artan was deemed inadmissible on arrival at the Miami International Airport due to vetting concerns after being linked to “suspected members of terror organisations”.
The agency also disclosed that President Donald Trump’s administration will not allow any security threat to enter the US after imposing sweeping travel bans on 12 countries including Somalia.
“Upon further inspection by CBP, derogatory information, including association with suspected members of terror organizations, was discovered. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement.
“President Trump’s administration will not allow any security threat to enter our country, full stop.
Read Also: Denied entry of Somali referee Artan ‘unfortunate’, says Infantino
“I don’t really care what you do for a living. The law is still the law.
“If you don’t meet the qualifications to come into the country, we’re not letting you in just because we want you to referee a game,” he added in the statement.
The denial of entry to Artan which has sparked widespread outrage, across the football community has not stopped his appointment as the centre referee for 2026 UEFA Super Cup final between PSG and Aston Villa.
The decision to appoint Artan as the centre referee for the 2026 UEFA Super Cup final was made known in a joint statement issued by UEFA and CAF on Thursday evening.
The statement reads thus in part: “The decision to appoint Artan to officiate the UEFA Super Cup match has been made in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding recently signed between UEFA and CAF to encourage cooperation in many areas, including refereeing.
“UEFA and CAF are united by a shared commitment to developing football at all levels and promoting the core values of unity, equality and non-discrimination.”
