Donald Trump has confirmed he asked Gianni Infantino to review the one-game ban handed out to United States striker Folarin Balogun.
Balogun was initially given the standard sanction for a red card following his dismissal against Bosnia and Herzegovina for standing on the Achilles of Tarik Muharemovic in the round-of-32 game in San Francisco.
It was an unprecedented move, prompting suspicions that Trump had applied pressure on FIFA chief Gianni Infantino.
And the US president confirmed today he had spoken to Infantino personally in order to enable Balogun to play against Belgium tonight.
Trump said: “I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man who’s highly respected [Gianni Infantino]…I’m the one who got them to do it. It was not [former US president Joe] Biden, Biden was asleep.
“I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul. I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.
“All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t say you have to do this. I think it [the suspension] would have left a big stain.
“I didn’t think a red card meant much, and then I started hearing he can’t play in the next game. Boy, that’s a big… if it happened to another player, it would have been unfair, but when they take your best player, or just about, and they say he can’t play, that’s very unfair.
“It’s one thing to penalise someone for the game, but how do you penalise them for a game that hasn’t even been played yet? It’s very unfair. You can’t do that. So yes, I asked for a review by FIFA.”
Belgium furious with FIFA over appeal farce
Trump’s admission will further infuriate the Belgian FA, who confirmed today they would be appealing the ruling, although they also claim the process has been clouded by a lack of transparency.
An RBFA statement read: “After learning through media reports of FIFA’s decision to lift the automatic suspension of player Balogun, the RBFA sent a letter to FIFA requesting a copy of the decision, an explanation of the process that had been followed, and setting out its position regarding the applicable regulations.
“As its only response, FIFA sent a letter to the RBFA stating that it considered this correspondence to constitute an appeal, that a judge had been appointed, and that the RBFA had only a few hours to complete that appeal. No information whatsoever was provided by FIFA.
“For an appeal to be admissible, FIFA’s own regulations state that the reasoned decision must first have been communicated to the appellant. While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, FIFA itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible.”
It continued: “All of this occurred while FIFA simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA’s legitimate requests. Furthermore, during the match coordination meeting, FIFA deliberately removed the section concerning the automatic suspension of players from its presentation. This topic had nonetheless been part of all such meetings before each of the previous four matches. The RBFA questioned FIFA, both orally and in writing, about the reasons for this change, yet once again received no response.
“To be clear, as of this moment, the RBFA has still not received any decision or any explanation from FIFA regarding this matter. It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player’s eligibility for the upcoming match.
“Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole.”
UEFA slam FIFA for ‘unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision’
UEFA took a dim view of FIFA’s decision and launched an extraordinary attack on the world game’s governing body.
A statement read: ”Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line.
“Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not. A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted. It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.
“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. Equally, such decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition.
“Football is the most loved sport in the world because it is a beautiful game and is trusted because it is played everywhere with the same laws. A tournament is never a pure standalone and, if the tournament in question is the World Cup, it has the power to drive positive or negative consequences on the game as a whole.
“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”
FIFA acted similarly with Ronaldo decision prior to World Cup
It is not the first time FIFA has tweaked the rules regarding suspensions.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s three-game ban, incurred after being sent-off playing for Portugal against the Republic of Ireland in the qualifiers, was reduced to one, enabling the superstar to play in their World Cup group stage games.
Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo also saw his suspension altered, however, his was increased. Madibo was sent off in the game with Canada for a challenge that broke the leg of Ismael Kone and FIFA upgraded the standard one-match suspension to five.
