A World Cup referee from Somalia confirmed on Tuesday that US border patrol officials denied him entry into the country.

“I am very, very disappointed,” Omar Abdulkadir Artan, one of 52 referees chosen in April for the upcoming FIFA Men’s World Cup, told the New York Times. “I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup.”

Artan added that he “had the right papers” and “the right visa.” According to the Associated Press, the Somalia embassy in Kenya said it processed his travel visa to the US last week.

US border officials said on Monday that Artan would not take part in the soccer tournament. Artan would have been the first Somali referee to........

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