Hiiraan Online Names Omar Abdulkadir Artan 2025 Person of the Year

In Cairo’s June 30 Stadium, under the bright floodlights and the pressure of a continent watching, Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan took command of the CAF Champions League final between Egypt’s Pyramids FC and South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns. The match, which Sundowns edged 2–1, had all the urgency the occasion demands. Yet the deeper story was not the scoreline. It was the whistle in Artan’s hand — the first time a Somali official had been entrusted with African club football’s ultimate stage.

For Somali sport, long hampered by instability at home and invisibility abroad, that assignment was a hinge moment. Elite officiating is built on discretion as much as decisiveness, and on the biggest night of the African season, Artan’s authority was quiet and emphatic. Every call was replayed and discussed in real time across the continent. His composure held.

The final capped a breakout year. In 2025, Artan became the first Somali to officiate a CAF continental final, took charge of matches at the Africa Cup of Nations, and was later named CAF’s Best Male Referee of the Year — another first for Somalia. He also worked fixtures at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Each appointment reinforced the same verdict: here was a referee whose technical command and neutrality met the game’s highest standard.

By year’s end, CAF’s award confirmed what the appointments had already implied — that Artan had become a model of the craft. Refereeing excellence often shows itself in what barely draws attention: angles taken to see an incident, the calm management of dissent, the tempo set by advantage and restraint. His work through 2025 was defined by those subtleties rather than by spectacle.

Then came the most consequential call of all. Artan was selected to officiate at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, an assignment restricted to the sport’s most trusted officials. For Somali communities abroad — particularly in the United States, where identity and immigration pressures are daily realities — the news resonated as a moment of pride and recognition. A Somali would help safeguard the integrity of the most-watched event in global sport.

Such ascents do not happen by accident, and in Somalia they almost never happen at all. Born in Mogadishu at the height of the civil war, Artan’s early years were shaped by uncertainty. He entered refereeing through local leagues and climbed slowly. In 2018, he earned a place on the FIFA international referees list, a distinction that put him among a small circle of Somali professionals operating on global terrain. But the path from there to elite assignments was neither linear nor assured.

Somalia’s football ecosystem has long been fragile. The national federation endured repeated suspensions, and domestic leagues operated intermittently. Match officials struggled to find the consistent, high-level repetitions that turn theoretical knowledge into instinct under pressure. Without a steady flow of competitive fixtures, there were few clear routes from local excellence to continental authority.

Artan built his own. He invested in technical certifications, deepened his command of the Laws of the Game, and developed a reputation for impartiality and presence. Over time, regional appointments gave way to continental qualifiers. AFCON duties arrived after that. Each step reinforced a profile defined by precision and calm rather than visibility or theatrics.

His 2025 body of work stood out for both scale and symbolism. It represented not only a personal summit but a shift in how Somali professionalism is perceived in international football. In refereeing, trust is the currency. Artan earned it.

• First Somali to officiate a CAF continental final, culminating in the CAF Champions League decider in Cairo between Pyramids FC and Mamelodi Sundowns.
• Assignments at the Africa Cup of Nations and the FIFA U-20 World Cup, reinforcing his standing on multiple stages.
• Named CAF’s Best Male Referee of the Year, the first Somali to receive the honor.
• Selected for the 2026 FIFA World Cup officiating team, the pinnacle for any referee.

Back home, the response crossed political and regional lines. The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia formally recognized his achievement, and public congratulations followed from leaders across the spectrum. In a country where unity is rare and public life is fractious, the consensus mattered. It was less about ceremony than about what the moment signaled: a shared acknowledgment of excellence that reframed what is possible.

The ripple effects are already visible. Artan’s rise has recast how officiating is viewed within Somali football — not as a fallback for those who do not play, but as a demanding, respected, and globally relevant profession. For Somali youth, the message is straightforward. With discipline, neutrality, and technical mastery, even the most exclusive arenas can be entered on merit.

There is also a broader continental context. African club football is evolving quickly, with investment, analysis, and infrastructure deepening its competitive base. As the product improves, so does the scrutiny on its referees. Assignments like the Champions League final are tests of a continent’s officiating standards as much as a single referee’s nerve. In 2025, Somalia’s standard-bearer met the moment.

Hiiraan Online’s decision to name Artan Person of the Year recognizes that arc. It honors the craft — officiating as a discipline of unglamorous excellence — and the change in perception that flows from it. This was not a year defined by dramatic gestures. It was built on steadiness. On an authority that, when applied well, recedes into the match itself.

In the end, the meaning extends beyond football. Artan has become an emblem of Somali capacity recognized — not merely admired. Trust, once earned, alters expectations. For Somali sport and for a generation watching from Mogadishu to Minneapolis, that change may be his most enduring call.

By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.

Monday February 9, 2026