FIFA angers football world over Balogun’s red card violation after Trump slams Infantino
July 6 – In an unprecedented decision, FIFA overturned the red card suspension of American striker Folarin Balogun in today’s last 16 match against Belgium following the lobbying of US President Donald Trump.
According to media reports, Trump called on FIFA president Gianni Infantino to ask the world governing body to review the suspension of the top scorer in the US – and FIFA obliged.
A red card leads to an automatic one-match suspension without appeal. It is the first time since the 1962 World Cup that FIFA has revoked the suspension of a red card received during the World Cup.
On Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Thank you to Fifa for doing the right thing, and reversing a great injustice!”
The statement issued by the governing body and organizers of the World Cup reads as follows: “In accordance with section 27 of the FIFA disciplinary law, the implementation of the suspension has been suspended for a one-year trial period.
Article 27 of FIFA’s disciplinary code states that “the judicial body may decide to suspend in whole or in part the initiation of disciplinary action.” This article continues: “If a person benefiting from a suspended sentence commits another violation of the same nature and gravity during the period of probation, the suspension will be revoked by the judicial body and the punishment will be enforced without prejudice to any other punishment that will be issued because of this new violation.”
The world governing body previously filed a request to remove Cristiano Ronaldo from the World Cup after his red card against the Republic of Ireland. He was suspended for one game but the other two were on probation.
However, article 10.5 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations states: “If a player or team official is sent off due to a direct or indirect red card (second warning), he will be automatically suspended from the team’s next match. In addition, other sanctions may apply.”
The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said in a statement that it was “surprised” by the decision and was “investigating all possible options”. The Belgian FA is chaired by Pascale Van Damme, a member of the FIFA Council.
The statement says that FIFA has done exactly the opposite of its rules as well as what it told the competing teams in the meeting before the World Cup and in the letter sent to the confederations in May.
In a press conference, Belgium manager Rudia Garcia said: “The Belgian federation is not only defending itself or the national team, but defending football as a whole — its integrity and its values.”
Garcia added: “I didn’t know that in the World Cup July 5 is actually April 1. It’s April Fools.”
His American counterpart Mauricio Pochettino, in a surprising comment, praised FIFA’s mysterious decision. “Everyone who really loves the game and believes in discipline and integrity, I think we celebrate that decision. We were punished enough against Bosnia Herzegovina to play with 10 men for 30 minutes. [because of] a decision that was unfair… 99.9% of people agree that there is an unfair red card,” said Pochettino.
FIFA did not respond to a request for comment, though it is awaiting approval from the White House before doing so?
The full Belgian FA statement translated from French is below:
“The RBFA is surprised by FIFA’s decision to declare suspended American player Folarin Balogun eligible to play in the USA-Belgium game on Monday, July 6 at 5:00 PM (Seattle time). FIFA bases its decision on Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. However, Article 66.4 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code clearly states that a red card (sending off) automatically results in a team suspension from the next game, as it has been the case with all previous red cards issued during this FIFA World Cup.” Furthermore, regardless of the above, this decision is in direct conflict with the provisions of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Competition Regulations, specifically Article 10.5: “If a player or team official is sent off due to a direct or indirect red card (second yellow card), he will be automatically suspended from the team’s next match. In addition, other sanctions may be imposed.” “The automatic nature of this suspension was also clearly confirmed in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Circular No. 16, which was distributed to all participating member organizations on May 12, 2026. The same rule is repeated in every FIFA World Cup 2026 Match Coordination Meeting before match 2 of the FIFA World Cup and included in the Workshop 2 World Cup. to protect the legal rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play for our sport, for this FIFA World Cup and for future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is exploring all possible options.” (Official)
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