- Gianni Infantino has described the situation in which a Somali World Cup referee was denied entry into the US as “unfortunate”.
- Omar Artan was turned away by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) upon his arrival at Miami International Airport from Istanbul on Saturday.
- The Fifa president said that solutions were sought in order to resolve the issue, before saying: “Maybe sometimes its good to chill, relax. We try to work and solve everything. To immediately start screaming and shouting has the opposite effect of finding a solution.”
- He added: “We need to respect we are not kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces, we are a sports organisation.”
- In addition to praising the overall visa process into the US, he added that Fifa ensured that bonds payments for players and fans travelling from some African countries to the tournament were waived. “No government has obtained that for their countries. We (Fifa) obtained it for the fans,” Infantino said.
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