The top soccer referee in Africa says he's devastated he won't be able to officiate in the 2026 World Cup after being denied entry into the United States last Saturday.
"am very, very disappointed," Artan told The New York Times in a telephone interview from Istanbul, Turkey, where he had been diverted after landing in the U.S.
"I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup."
Artan told The Times he flew to Miami International Airport on Saturday, June 6 − five days before the tournament's opening games. However, he was stopped by U.S. border officials, who took him into a small room and questioned him for 11 hours.
International Glance
One person has been killed and five others wounded in a series of shooting attacks in central Israel, Israeli police and emergency services reported.
In a historic first for Germany, nearly 700 students at the University of Leipzig voted almost unanimously on 19 May to demand that their university sever all ties with Israeli academic institutions over the genocide in Gaza.
US authorities have temporarily banned green-card holders from entering the country if they have traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda or South Sudan in the last 21 days.





























