Marwa’s mess, Artan’s agony, and the 60-year history of African referees at Fifa World Cup

Four years later at Mexico 1970, Kandil became the first African referee to officiate a match at two Fifa World Cups as Africa ended a 36-year hiatus from the tournament following Morocco’s qualification.

Since Kandil blazed the trail, including the 2026 Fifa World Cup, Africa will have sent a total of 90 referees, assistant referees, and video assistant referees drawn from 29 different countries to the Fifa World Cup. Out of these 90 match officials, 70 have been privileged to officiate at least one match, either as a centre referee, assistant referee, or video assistant referee.

The 70 match officials have combined for 210 assignments – 60 matches as centre referees, 137 as assistant referees, and 13 as video assistant referees. African referees have showed 185 yellow cards and sent off three players across the 60 matches they have officiated. Egyptian Gamal El-Ghandour has officiated the most matches, six, while dishing the most cards, 22 yellow cards.

Those 60 matches include the 1998 Fifa World Cup final, which saw Moroccan Said Belqola become the first (and only so far) African referee to officiate a World Cup final as he sent off France’s Marcel Desailly during Les Bleus’ 3-0 win over Brazil.

Aden Marwa – so far the only Kenyan to be listed as Fifa World Cup match official – is not among those 70 as his appearance at the 2014 Fifa World Cup held in Brazil was only as a reserve assistant referee.

Yet, Marwa was destined for assignments at the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia but he was struck off the list of the tournament’s match officials after an exposé by the BBC and Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas alleged he received a bribe of USD600 (Sh60,000 then) to influence matches at the 2018 African Nations Championship (Chan) in Morocco.

Marwa’s exclusion meant that of the 29 African countries that have so far sent a match official to the Fifa World Cup, representatives from Kenya and Mauritania remain the only ones yet to be assigned roles either as a centre referee, assistant referee, or video assistant referee at a World Cup match. However, that record is set to change for Mauritania at the 2026 Fifa World Cup, where Dahane Beida will become the first match official from the West African nation to appear at a World Cup.

Match fixing exposé

Marwa faded into oblivion after Anas’ and BBC’s exposé, retreating to only maintaining contact with a small circle of close friends and family members.

Retired referee GMT Ottieno, 84, is one of those who have maintained contact with Marwa over the years and hopes for his pardon from CAF.

“CAF banned Marwa from all football activities for life. He got the harshest punishment among the match officials who were involved in that scandal. Some were banned for five or 10 years but Marwa received a life ban. I hope his case can be reviewed and his ban reduced or lifted. It has been eight years already,” GMT Ottieno said.

Yet, the circumstances of Marwa’s World Cup miss cannot compare to that of Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, who recently had his lifelong dream of officiating at the Fifa World Cup dashed by American immigration officials.

Artan, reputed to be Africa’s best referee, was denied entry into the US on Saturday, a day before his 34th birthday, hence delaying his ambition to become the first Somali to officiate a match at the Fifa World Cup.

Per a New York Times report, Artan was grilled for 11 hours by border officials about “potential ties to Al Shabab”. Background checks had showed “that Mr Artan’s name is similar to that of a man identified as linked to the Somali militant group Al Shabab and upon whom the US government had imposed sanctions.”

Artan, despite having all the right papers and denying involvement with Al Shabab, was denied entry into Miami where Fifa was holding a mandatory seminar for the tournament's 52 referees and 88 assistant referees.

The training hub for 2026 Fifa World Cup match officials will be based in Miami. The match officials will travel to their assignments from the training hub, hence making it essential that Artan was granted entry into the US.

During Chan 2024, which Kenya co-hosted in August 2025 with Tanzania and Uganda, tournament officials were based in Nairobi, staying at Glee Hotel and training at the Ulinzi Sports Complex. Match officials assigned matches in Tanzania and Uganda flew in and out of Kenya’s capital.

The US’ decision to deny Artan entry sparked global outrage, with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemning the act.

“As a World Cup host, the U.S. shouldn't be flippantly barring officials from entering the country to do their jobs,” the former US First Lady stated on X.

GMT, who was in the US in 1994 on a private visit when the North American nation was hosting the World Cup, recalled that those involved the tournament as players or match officials were not affected by visa issues.

“Unlike now with Donald Trump’s presidency, there were no problems in 1994 during Bill Clinton’s time,” he remarked.

This year, stringent visa laws effected by Donald Trump’s administration have seen a pile up of cases of players, team officials, and journalists denied visas or subjected to intense grilling on arrival in the US.

Following Artan’s denial of entry into the US, Fifa released a statement confirming that he will no longer be part of the tournament. Fifa further stated that they have no control over a country’s immigration policies, hence attracting accusations of applying double standards. In 2023, Fifa stripped Indonesia of 2023 Fifa U20 World Cup hosting rights due to its refusal to allow the Israel U20 national team entry into the country. Hence, critics have questioned Fifa’s leniency on the US over the numerous visa challenges experienced by players, team officials, and journalists from several nations.

CAF, on their part, are yet to release a statement on Artan’s predicament. Their silence, critics assert, projects subservience.

At the 1994 Fifa World Cup, Africa was represented by two referees (Lee Kim Chong of Mauritius and Tunisia’s Neri Jouini) and one assistant referee (Egyptian Abdel-Magid Hassan).

This year, Africa was set to be represented by a record number of referees – seven – but Artan’s failure to secure entry into the US sees maintaining of the number of referees the continent sent to the last two World Cups.

Also read: Kenyans eye titles in US collegiate games

Still, Africa will be represented by a record number of match officials – 19, comprising six referees, 11 assistant referees, and two video assistant referees.

The assistant referee trio of Angola’s Jerson dos Santos, South African Zakhele Siwela, and Abdelhak Etchiali of Algeria will emulate Gambian referee Bakary Gassama, Senegalese assistant referee Djibril Camara, Moroccan assistant referee Redouane Achik, and Malian assistant referee Dramane Dante as African match officials who have appeared at three Fifa World Cups.

Dante also holds the record of the most number of matches officiated by an African match official at the Fifa World Cup, nine.

Artan received a heroes’ welcome when he landed back in Somalia on Wednesday. He had been denied an opportunity to make history on American soil but with age still on his side, he can have his moment at the 2030 Fifa World Cup, where finally Somalia can become the 30th African nation to send a match official to football’s greatest showpiece.

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