FIFA's Infantino says soccer org. 'not kings of world,' US decides who can enter, amid visa scandal
Before the World Cup kicks off in Mexico City on Thursday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino is fending off concerns over potential visa issues for players and officials entering the United States.
Infantino said FIFA is focused on being a “sports organization” and would not intervene in helping the US determine approvals for entry into the country.
“We try always to find solutions, always,” Infantino said Wednesday in a World Cup news conference in Mexico City. “But then we need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces, and I don’t know what. We are a sports organization, we try to do our best with the means that we have.”
Without detailing circumstances or sharing knowledge of any context behind the US denying entry to Omar Artan, a referee from Somalia, Infantino called the turn of events “unfortunate.”
One US official said Tuesday night Artan was not accepted when his flight landed in Miami from Istanbul due to an alleged “association with suspected members of terror organizations.” He said FIFA understands there are also times to “chill and relax” when visa issues arise rather than creating additional conflict.
Ticket controversies, visa issues, Iranian participation
“Sometimes, to immediately start screaming and shouting has the opposite effect in terms of finding a solution,” he said.
Infantino said there are no regrets from FIFA about selecting the United States as one of the three host countries for the 48-team tournament.
Asked about the status of the Iranian team, which moved its training to Mexico and will shuttle to games in the United States and then fly back to Tijuana, Infantino clarified he is not suggesting FIFA isn’t active in aiding its tournament participants.
“I don’t mean to chill and do nothing, I mean to trust us that we are working behind the scenes, trying to understand,” he said. “There are things we are told, things we are not told. We always try to make things positive and find a solution.
“It has been successful to bring Iran to play in America, I don’t know who would’ve managed to do that … we don’t live on the moon, we live on planet Earth, and we try our best.”
He said the same applies to the ongoing investigations by attorneys general in New Jersey, New York, California, and Texas over allegations of misleading ticket price structure. FIFA revealed Wednesday that listed ticket prices were sold for an average of less than $500.
Infantino, who claimed only four complaints crossed his desk from “800,000 tickets sold” for matches in San Francisco and Inglewood, California, said FIFA will also take a chill approach to responding to the uproar around ticketing.
Why so relaxed? “Because before starting to sell 7 million tickets, we checked what we would do with the best lawyers or experts,” Infantino said.
“In California, we sold 800,000 tickets for the games in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Out of the 800,000, we had three customers who complained. The fourth one has come since. These cases were solved before the investigations started. We welcome any investigations. We’ll present everything and make our case. But it’s most important that every dollar that we generate goes back into football.”
Trump administration: Somali referee denied US entry over possible terror ties
The Somali referee, who headed to the World Cup, then turned away, was denied entry into the United States over a possible tie to terrorism, a Trump administration official claimed to Fox News.
Omar Abdulkadir Artan, 34, made it to Miami International Airport on a flight from Istanbul on Saturday but was refused entrance into the country by US Customs and Border Patrol.
“Upon further inspection by CBP, derogatory information, including association with suspected members of terror organizations, was discovered, making the traveler ineligible for admission to the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA),” the statement read, Fox News reported Wednesday.
“The traveler was refused admission and given immigration forms that provide the section of law used to complete an expedited removal under 8235 of the INA. President Trump’s administration will not allow any security threat to enter our country – full stop.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino addressed questions about the United States controlling access for entry into the country on Wednesday at his World Cup kickoff press conference and pointed to Artan’s case.
“It is unfortunate what happened to Omar, the referee from Somalia. But again, we don’t control everything,” Infantino said. “We try, we’ll discuss, we’ll see. Maybe sometimes it’s good as well to chill, relax. We work on everything, we try to resolve everything.”
Artan was named 2025 Male Referee of the Year by the Confederation of African Football and would have been the first-ever Somali referee to take charge of a match at the World Cup.
Fox reported Artan had been issued a visa to enter the United States last week, citing the Somalia Embassy in Kenya that processed it.
