The refusal of Canada to grant an entry visa to Thomas Partey to participate in the Black Stars’ match against Panama in Toronto, together with the repatriation of Africa's best referee, Omar Abdulkadir Artan, on arrival at Miami and denied entry into the United States of America, supposedly by Immigration officers from both countries, are nothing but part of the racist bigotry that some Western countries exhibit in the name of enforcement of law and order.
What is even more depressing is the acquiesced approval from the world football governing body, the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), that they cannot do anything about the Somali referee, Artan, because they do not have any role to play in the granting of entry visas, since that process is solely in the hands of governments in those countries hosting the event.
In its lame-duck reaction, it issued a statement, "FIFA can confirm that the match official Omar Abdulkadir Artan will be unable to train and officiate at the FIFA World Cup 2026 after he was denied entry into the United States.
FIFA is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications and has been informed by authorities that Mr Artan's status will not be changed at present.
In line with previous FIFA events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country".
Disagreement
But that is where Sepp Blatter, once upon a time a key part of the architecture of FIFA, disagrees. Blatter maintains that the key actors in any football competition are football players and referees.
There can never be a football match without players and referees.
There could be football games without coaches and football administrators. I cannot agree with him more.
That is why, in my view, the refusal to grant entry permits by any of the three countries hosting the FIFA World Cup 2026 to a football player or referee is not only offensive but borders on racial bigotry.
Indeed, if the World Cup had been organised in any African country and any of the players or European national referees had been denied an entry visa, the Europeans and the Americans would have protested vehemently and threatened to boycott the competition, with the likely support from FIFA.
It is thus sad, that FIFA, which threatened to sanction Iran with a life ban when that country threatened to withdraw from the competition, is not challenging how the US despised Iran and Artan, the best referee in Africa, who was travelling to the US, not as a private tourist, but on the formal request of FIFA, as an integral part of the body of referees for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The same is the case of Thomas Partey, who was denied entry into Canada because he has been charged with rape in the United Kingdom.
If not because of racism, including situations where African footballers are derided as monkeys, how could Canada, a strong member of the Commonwealth of Nations, be blinded from the legal maxim that no citizen must be pronounced guilty of a criminal offence until and unless proven by a court of competent jurisdiction?
Within Canada, is there no precedent of a charge of criminal conduct, which has gone through the judicial process, and the defendant had been declared not guilty because the prosecution could not produce the evidence upon which judgment was to be made?
Why refuse?
If FIFA acknowledges the power of a host state to singularly determine who is granted access to play or officiate in the competition, then why does FIFA refuse to accept the right of another country to decide not to participate in the World Cup because it does not feel welcome by the host country, but must be compelled to participate irrespective of how much humiliation its contingent will have to suffer from the host country?
Is the sovereignty of host countries superior to that of other participating countries in the Mundial?
FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his executives must bow their heads in shame for admitting that host countries reserve the right to grant entry visas or otherwise, as against the position held by Sepp Blatter, the longest-serving official within the structures of FIFA.
While Blatter insists that host countries have an obligation to open up their borders to the players and referees in the beautiful game and that no official or player must be refused entry visas, Infantino appears to affirm the sovereignty of a host country to exercise the exclusive right to determine who enters their country and those who are refused entry.
FIFA must secure unhindered entry for any football player or referee selected to be part of the competition as an unconditional certainty before granting hosting rights to avoid such embarrassments.
If situations of this nature are upheld without basis by governments of the Western or developed countries, or the global North, why would their nationals not show or express disdain, disgust and abuse towards citizens of the global South, Third World or developing countries!
