Omar Artan is very good at his job; he deserves to do it wherever he is called. Omar Artan did everything he could to get a diplomatic visa and iron out the issues of access; so too did his home country. Omar Artan was elected to Fifa’s elite refereeing list by world football’s governing body; it has vouched for him.
So the absence of Artan at the World Cup is a stain on the tournament and the sport. It is a line in the sand, a new low. For all of the relevant human rights issues and geopolitical machinations of Russia and Qatar, all of which drew deserved scrutiny, we never witnessed anything quite like this.
In 2017, Donald Trump’s first presidential term and subsequent travel bans imposed on Muslim countries coincided with the 2026 World Cup bidding process. Fifa president Gianni Infantino issued a warning: “Teams who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. That is obvious. It’s obvious when it comes to Fifa competitions, any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup.
“The requirements will be clear. And then each country can make up their decision, whether they want to bid or not based on the requirements.”
It was an unequivocal statement, laid out in black and white. It was also entirely appropriate. You cannot trumpet this as the peak of global sport if limitations imposed upon it reduce its universality. You cannot talk up football’s – and Fifa’s – power to unite and promote peace if a host nation arbitrarily chooses who attends it.
What changed? Certainly Infantino has aligned himself politically with Trump since, despite Fifa’s own statutes demanding it to be apolitical. At worst, the creation and bestowal of a Peace Prize to an autocratic leader before a major tournament was a nadir for sport governance. At best, it was a strategy to soothe ego and curry favour.
But where are those favours and where has it got Infantino? All the promises, all the insistences that things would work out in the end, have fallen away. Fifa is used to being the only show in town when the World Cup is on. Here, that was never likely to be the status quo.
The solution of allowing Artan to officiate matches in Canada and Mexico, an unideal but permissible end result, doesn’t work. The referee camp, where they train, work together and receive all information ahead of the tournament is held in Miami, where Artan was barred from entering the United States. No camp, no World Cup.
But we shouldn’t be begging for half-solutions. The case of Artan undermines everything that came before. The travel bans on supporters are shameful and should have ruled the US out of the running to be World Cup hosts, but were predictable. Barring an official from the biggest month of his career despite him holding a diplomatic visa? Unacceptable, and embarrassing for world football’s governing body.
What is Fifa’s response to these broken promises of free movement? How has Infantino attacked the host nation for disobeying his 2017 stipulation of hosting the tournament?
“Fifa is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications, and has been informed by authorities that Mr Artan’s status will not be changed at present,” a statement read. “In line with previous Fifa events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country.”
Ah, well that’s awkward. So although the free movement of supporters, players, staff and officials is necessary or “there is no World Cup”, it turns out that you couldn’t guarantee any of that and there still is a World Cup.
Almost as if the bidder was able to say whatever it wanted and then do whatever it wanted. We’re through the looking glass. We’re beyond the pale. This should never have been allowed to happen.
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