A FIFA referee from Somalia was turned away at the U.S. border as the 2026 World Cup gets underway — one of several match officials and team members who’ve run into heightened immigration scrutiny trying to enter the country, NPR reported Monday, June 9.
The case is the sharpest example yet of how U.S. immigration enforcement is intersecting with the tournament. Match officials don’t just show up to wave flags; they’re vetted and assigned by FIFA, the sport’s governing body, to specific games. Turning one away disrupts that process in ways organizers didn’t plan for.
It isn’t only referees. Team members have also faced enhanced screening at ports of entry, according to NPR’s report. The outlet didn’t identify the specific teams or detail what that scrutiny looked like in each case, but the pattern is clear enough — people with official tournament credentials are getting stopped.
The World Cup is being held in the United States this summer, which puts American immigration policy directly in the path of an event that draws players, coaches, officials, and staff from dozens of countries. Many of those travelers are coming from nations that face stricter U.S. entry rules under current administration policies.
Somalia, the country the turned-away referee is from, has been on restricted-travel lists under various U.S. administrations going back years. Whether that was the specific basis for the denial wasn’t spelled out in NPR’s report.
FIFA hasn’t publicly addressed the Somalia referee case as of Monday. It’s unclear whether the referee was reassigned to a different match, replaced entirely, or whether FIFA is in contact with U.S. authorities to resolve the situation. No timeline for any resolution has been announced.
Reported by NPR. Read the original report.
