White House World Cup chief defends visa ban for Somali referee, Iranians

The head of the White House Task Force for the World Cup on Tuesday defended the decision not to grant visas to a Somali referee and some support staff for the Iranian team.

“To this point we’ve had 35 teams that have come into the United States,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the task force, said at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council in Washington.

“No players, no coaches have been denied,” Giuliani said. “There have been some officials that have been denied, and for good reason.”

A US State Department official told AFP late Tuesday that the referee was “associated with suspected members of terrorist organizations,” therefore “making the traveler ineligible for admission to the United States”.