Fifa pays deported referee full World Cup salary
Translated from Norwegian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
At a glance
- Somali football referee Omar Artan, denied entry to the US, will receive the same base pay as other World Cup referees from FIFA.
- Artan was detained and deported from Miami after being questioned by US immigration authorities.
- FIFA confirmed Artan will not officiate in the World Cup but will be paid his base salary and has been assigned to officiate the European Super Cup final.
Somali football referee Omar Artan, who was denied entry to the United States, will be paid the same base salary as other selected World Cup referees, according to BBC reports citing unnamed sources.
We are not going to fight with the Chinese for first place, we leave that for tomorrow.
Artan, 34, was detained and questioned for several hours by US immigration authorities at Miami airport last week, despite holding a valid visa. He was subsequently denied entry and assisted by FIFA in returning to his home country via Istanbul.
I will give my maximum in the final and then we will see where we are.
FIFA had previously confirmed Artan would not officiate in the World Cup. FIFA President Gianni Infantino described the incident as "unfortunate." As a form of compensation, Artan has been assigned to referee the European Super Cup final between Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa in August.
It's nice to see them. They look great today, unstoppable. They are the most down-to-earth athletes and perhaps the most popular rowers in the world right now. They are the biggest ambassadors of their sport today.
The BBC report indicates that FIFA has committed to paying Artan his base World Cup referee salary, though the exact amount remains undisclosed. This decision aims to mitigate the impact of his exclusion from the tournament.
I am not satisfied because we did not break the world record, but since we set it, let it be this way. We showed that we are here, that we can still row well, and that's why I'm especially glad.
Originally published by Aftenposten in Norwegian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.