Seattle (US): US President Donald Trump intervened on behalf of American star forward Folarin Balogun, whose red-card suspension was lifted, allowing him to play in the United States' World Cup Round of 16 match against Belgium on Monday.
Balogun, the leading scorer with three goals in the tournament, received a red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Tarik Muharemovic during a 2-0 Round of 32 victory on Wednesday, triggering an automatic one-match suspension.
FIFA announced on Sunday that the suspension had been lifted for the Round of 16 clash, an extraordinary decision that drew praise from Trump and outrage from Belgium's team. It appeared to be the first time since 1962 that a World Cup red card did not result in a suspension.
Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the match and asked FIFA to review the red card, according to a person familiar with the call who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice!” Trump wrote in a post on social media.
Belgium slams FIFA
The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said it was “astonished”, while Belgium coach Rudi Garcia mocked FIFA's decision.
“I didn't know that in the offices of FIFA, the fifth of July was the first of April in Europe,” Garcia said through a translator, comparing the move to an April Fools' Day joke. “The Belgian federation is not defending itself; it is protecting the national team. It is defending football in general, its integrity and its ethics. I think it's the first time in the history of the World Cup that there has been this kind of decision.”
Garcia declined to comment when asked about a possible appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport or whether he believed Trump influenced FIFA's decision.
“In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and 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 examining all available options,” the Belgian federation said in a statement.
American players learned of Balogun's availability when social media posts began appearing during the 10-minute bus ride from their hotel to training at the University of Washington's Husky Soccer Stadium, where they were greeted by Dubs II, the university's Alaskan Malamute mascot.
Balogun's red card had been one of the tournament's most controversial and consequential refereeing decisions. Brazilian referee Raphael Claus initially showed no card before upgrading the punishment to a red card following a VAR review.
“If you look at the foul, there was zero intent at all,” US captain Christian Pulisic said. “I felt like there were much worse incidents in this tournament.”
The US Soccer Federation learned of FIFA's decision through a message sent via FIFA's official portal at 10:31 a.m. EDT.
“The implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,” FIFA said. “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.”
US coach Mauricio Pochettino welcomed FIFA's decision.
“We were punished enough against Bosnia-Herzegovina by having to play with 10 men for 30 minutes because of a decision that was completely unfair,” he said.
Pochettino, who represented Argentina at the 2002 World Cup, said he was not surprised Trump contacted Infantino.
“I come from a culture, Argentina and Europe, where football is a religion — even more than religion,” he said. “If we keep moving forward, maybe one day you will see that sport is magic. Sport is amazing. It is so powerful that it unites people and unites a country like ours.”
Balogun's three goals include the match-winning strike against Bosnia-Herzegovina. He matched Landon Donovan's tally from the 2010 World Cup for the second-most goals by an American in a single World Cup, behind only Bert Patenaude's four in the inaugural tournament in 1930.
The 25-year-old Monaco striker scored 13 Ligue 1 goals last season and has 12 goals in 30 international appearances. Born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents living in London, Balogun switched his international allegiance from England to the United States in 2023 after representing England at the Under-21 level.
“He strikes fear into a lot of defenders,” teammate Chris Richards said.
The host United States is seeking its first World Cup quarterfinal appearance since 2002. The Americans were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Ghana in 2010, Belgium in 2014 and the Netherlands in 2022. They failed to advance from the group stage in 2006 and did not qualify for the 2018 tournament.
The US Soccer Federation did not make Balogun available for comment on Sunday. However, the striker posted a picture of himself in front of US supporters on social media, accompanied by Michael Jackson's hit song “Bad”.
On Friday, Balogun said he believed a yellow card “would have been fair” instead of a red.
FIFA said its decision was based on Article 27 of its disciplinary code.
“The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure,” the rule states. “By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the sanctioned person to a probationary period of one to four years.”
“What about the next red card? What happens then?” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said. “Is there going to be some committee somewhere that is going to take that card away? It's a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup.”