After being barred from entering the United States of America with the confirmation of being set to be the first Somali to officiate at the showpiece of global football. It must have stung, but Omar Abdulkadir Artan wouldn’t have cared following the nature of his reception at his land of origin.
Urging the decision on to “fate”, he assured loving Somali citizens to keep believing; the Trump administration said on Tuesday the U.S. had denied Artan entry for the World Cup because of his links to “suspected members of terror organizations”.
“What happened has happened and it was fate. I am grateful for the support FIFA gave me,” Artan told reporters after arriving in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
“Somalia is ours, whether things are good or bad. I want to tell our youth not to lose hope in our country,” he said. “I am now in my country, and there is no other place I want to be.
“As young people, we really felt his pain. We all also have dreams. He made such a huge effort to reach the stage he reached and was eventually let down,” student Abdulqadir Ali Abokor, 26, told Reuters. Thousands of fans flocking down to see him would have been reassuring.
“We are here to show him that we stand with him,” fitness instructor and former referee Abdi Abdulle Baasaale, 54, said.
Somalia’s Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, who met Artan on Wednesday, said he had “won the hearts of millions and secured his place in history”.
The diplomatic passport conversation while unencouraging, refers to strict security policies which remind of what football is all about.
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