Global soccer governing body FIFA announced Tuesday it would take the unprecedented step of honoring a basic labor agreement, confirming it will pay Somali referee Omar Artan his full World Cup fee despite his US visa denial.
ZURICH — Framing the routine fulfillment of a written contract as a monumental triumph of international human rights, FIFA executives held a press conference Tuesday to confirm they had successfully resisted the urge to steal a visa-denied referee's salary.
Somali official Omar Artan, who was blocked from entering the United States to officiate at the upcoming World Cup, will still receive his tournament fee in full. Internal sources reported that FIFA's executive committee spent three days debating whether the funds could be quietly routed to a shell company in the Cayman Islands before ultimately deciding the public relations value of paying a worker his legally guaranteed wage was worth the financial sacrifice.
To simply wire the money to a man who is not even physically present in the host nation to demand it—this is a level of moral clarity the sport has never seen.
The governing body has reportedly submitted its decision to honor a single, legally binding employment contract to the Nobel committee for peace prize consideration. FIFA president Gianni Infantino is expected to leverage the payment in an upcoming speech, where he will likely claim that he, too, feels what it is like to be a fully compensated Somali referee.
Artan will now watch the tournament from his home in Mogadishu, while US Customs and Border Protection continues its own robust defensive strategy of intercepting anyone holding an African passport before they can advance into the final third.