“That wasn't nice to read" – Völler critiques USA denying Somalian referee entry
| Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images. |
Rudi Völler has spoken out against Somalian World Cup referee Omar Artan being denied entry into the United States.
The top FIFA listed referee had all his required documents, but was stopped at Miami airport by US Customs and Border Protection.
“That [his denial of entry] wasn't nice to read,” the DFB sporting director explained in an interview with Kicker.de.
"But I don't know the exact background why he was not admitted. I’d like to answer it, and I’m not afraid to answer political questions, but I don’t know the reasons.
"It’s a bit of a pity. Of course, we don’t approve of what’s happening. But unfortunately, we can’t change it. We’re here to play in a World Cup, we want to play football.
"That doesn’t mean we’re saying we don’t want to be involved or that we’re not politically interested – that’s simply not the case.
“But of course we are also the wrong people to talk to. We are concentrating on football,” Völler went on to say.
The 1990 World Cup winner with Germany concluded that he also sees more problems inbound: "My gut feeling tells me that this won't be the last story."
