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The World Cup campaign by the United States took an extraordinary turn when FIFA suspended striker Folarin Balogun’s red card ban, clearing him to play after U.S. President Donald Trump personally urged FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review the case.
The unprecedented move on Sunday also thrust FIFA’s disciplinary process into the global spotlight and prompted an angry response from Belgium, who play the U.S. on Monday night in Seattle for a place in the quarter-finals.
It also ensured that one of the tournament’s biggest talking points will centre not on tactics or team selection, but on the relationship between football’s governing body and political power.
Balogun scored his third goal of the World Cup in Thursday’s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina but was later sent off for planting his boot into the ankle of defender Tarik Muharemovic.
The 25-year-old was dismissed after a review, with U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino saying it was never a red card offence.
Trump called Infantino to ask world soccer’s governing body to review the sending-off, according to a source briefed on the call.
The president spoke about the call Monday in response to reporter questions at a scheduled event at the Oval Office.
“All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t say ‘you have to do this,'” said Trump.
“I didn’t think it was a foul,” he added. “I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.”
While allowing that Belgium has “a great team,” Trump said it would have been a “big stain” were the U.S. to lose Monday night with their top player out due to a debatable call.
“If we win or we lose 1783356168, it’s fair,” he said.
FIFA released a statement on Monday in which Infantino suggested it was not unusual to receive calls from heads of state, but said the decision was made by the soccer body’s independent disciplinary committee.
“During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies,” he said. “That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.”
Red card not rescinded
FIFA is allowing Balogun to play without rescinding the red card.
“In line with article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,” FIFA said in a statement.
“If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”
The judicial body has the discretion to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary sanction.
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump said in a social media post.
The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said it was “astonished” by FIFA’s decision to declare Balogun eligible to play in the match, pointing to the rule book while it investigated all potential options.
“The decision is in direct contradiction with the provisions of the FIFA World Cup 2026 competition regulations,” it said in a statement. “In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options.”
Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot also expressed incredulity over the situation.
“If it was really this phone call behind this incomprehensible decision, then that would be flouting the most basic rules of football and sport,” Prevot said in a statement sent to reporters.
Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, had earlier denied any interference by Trump in the matter.
“President Trump would never interfere with the inner workings of FIFA. President Trump thanked FIFA after the fact,” he wrote in a post on Instagram.
UEFA, European officials slam reversal
The Union of European Football Associations early Monday called the reversal “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable,” in a lengthy statement.
“When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined,” the group said.
The decision also came in for criticism from the coaches of England and Norway, after their respective victories on Sunday, as well as Infantino’s predecessor, Sepp Blatter.
“Football must never become a playground for political power,” said Blatter, FIFA’s president from 1998 to 2015, in a post on X.
German Football Association president Bernd Neuendorf said on Monday FIFA should issue a statement on the reports that the decision to overturn the red card was preceded by a telephone call between Trump and Infantino, adding: “The integrity of the competition and the credibility of FIFA are at stake.”
U.S. Soccer accepted the decision. Balogun’s teammates said they found out via social media on their way to training before Monday’s game in Seattle.
“I think a lot of us thought it was AI at first,” defender Chris Richards told The Associated Press. “We weren’t sure if it was true or not.”
Pochettino welcomed the news at a media conference in Seattle, saying he thought “99.9 per cent of people in football saw it as unfair punishment” and that there was “evidence from the past” that a punishment can be suspended and fulfilled later on.
A 25-year-old who plays for Monaco, Balogun scored 13 Ligue 1 goals last season. He has 12 goals in 30 international appearances. He was born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents who were living in London and in 2023 opted to change his national team affiliation from England, which he had represented at the under-21 level.
On Friday, Balogun said he thought a yellow card instead of red “would have been fair.”