Washington (United States) (AFP) – The head of the White House Task Force for the World Cup on Tuesday 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 stated. “There have been some officials that have been denied, and for good reason.”
A US State Department official told AFP late Tuesday 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.
Artan, who in 2025 was named men’s referee of the year by the Confederation of African Football, would have been the first Somali to referee at a World Cup. He was turned back at the Miami airport. Somalia is one of several countries on a travel ban list introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration as part of a broader immigration crackdown. Iran, who will play their three group games on American soil, was forced to switch their training base to Mexico due to the ongoing military conflict with the United States.
The Iranian football federation said Tuesday that its allocation of tickets for supporters had been revoked and some team support staff were denied visas. Giuliani stated that “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 added that he “can’t get into the particulars,” but “there are some people that claim that they are coaches that may not be coaches.”
Giuliani emphasized that Trump wants to make sure that there is a “level playing field” for all of 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 reported that 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 July 19.”
© 2024 AFP
