Somali referee Omar Artan will make history on Wednesday, August 11, when he becomes the first non-European official to referee the UEFA Super Cup between Paris Saint‑Germain and Aston Villa.
UEFA awarded the 34-year-old Artan the game a few days after he was refused entry to the US to officiate at the World Cup.
The FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, suggested he was powerless to overrule Donald Trump’s administration. Somalia is one of 12 countries on a travel ban list introduced last year by the US.
Speaking in an interview with UEFA, Artan said: “It was a very tough period. A lot of people have sympathy for me because when someone has been working a lot of years and is supposed to do something, and then can’t do it, it’s very challenging. I really appreciate the support I received throughout the world, though; I’m so grateful.”
Artan has prepared for the match at the Red Bull Arena by taking charge of league games in Somalia and the Kuwaiti Premier League.
“We referees go through a lot of preparation in terms of getting to know the teams,” he said in an interview with Uefa. “I always watch the teams play. I like watching European football anyway but, regardless, I go through and do a lot of research on the teams, how they play, learn their behaviours, tactics.”
Artan will be assisted by two more African officials, Liban Abdoulrazack Ahmed (Djibouti) and Stephen Eleazar Onyango Yiembe (Kenya).
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