FIFA’s decision not to uphold the automatic one-game ban for United States men’s national team striker Folarin Balogun was sharply opposed by the sport’s governing body in Europe as “incomprehensible and unjustifiable.”
Balogun was issued a red card after scoring what proved to be the winning goal last week in the USMNT match with Bosnia-Herzegovina. A red card holds an automatic suspension during World Cup competition and by UEFA’s count, 188 other red cards issued during the history of the World Cup led to that punishment with only one prior exception: Brazil’s Garrincha, 1962.
The decision from FIFA on Sunday permits Balogun, the top scorer for the US in the 2026 World Cup, to avoid the immediate sanction and play in Monday’s round of 16 match against Belgium. An appeal on the decision was made by Belgium on Monday, but a ruling might not be made before the match against the USMNT begins.
As United States president Donald Trump declared a victory for having helped overturn the suspension, UEFA stood in stark opposition.
UEFA, which has debated FIFA in open disagreements on major issues and incidents in the past, said the latest decision to pause or erase a suspension “crossed a red line.”
Maxime Prevot, the deputy prime minister of Belgium, decried the intervention of Trump and US officials.
“If a phone call is really the reason for this incomprehensible decision, it would be a blatant violation of the most basic rules of football and sport,” Prevot said.
Trump said on Monday, “I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul.”
–Field Level Media
