Star U.S. forward Folarin Balogun started Monday night’s World Cup knockout match against Belgium after FIFA tabled the striker’s suspension following a call from President Donald Trump.
The Royal Belgian Football Association told the U.S. Soccer Federation that before the match that it “contests the eligibility” of Balogun for the game in Seattle, though it’s not clear what that means or what options Belgium has.
The involvement by Trump, who has close ties to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, has thrown kerosene on FIFA’s extraordinary move to pre-empt Balogun’s automatic one-game suspension for a red card in an elimination game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump told reporters Monday at an unrelated event in the Oval Office.
“All I did was ask for a review,” he added. “I didn’t say, ‘You have to do this.’”
Infantino characterized his call with Trump as typical of the interactions he has with other heads of state.
Trump insisted Monday that having Balogun play was better for Belgium. If the Red Devils were to beat the U.S. without Balogun, he said, the game “would have a big mark on it if we lost, if we won, no matter what happened” — precisely the argument critics of FIFA’s decision have been making.
“If they beat us, then they can be really proud,” Trump said of the Belgians, before invoking one of his favorite topics: With Balogun suspended, he said, “if they beat us, we’ll say it was — I say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020. But I won’t get into that.”
FIFA’s surprise announcement Sunday that it would defer Balogun’s one-match ban triggered cries of special treatment from Belgium’s coach, the European soccer federation and others.
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump said Sunday on social media minutes after the suspension was set aside.
About six hours before kickoff Monday, FIFA rejected Belgium’s challenge to Balogun’s eligibility, on a technicality: Soccer’s ruling body determined Belgium wasn’t entitled to an appeal because it wasn’t part of the game where the red card happened.
Infantino said Monday that “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent. They operate autonomously.”
He added that he reads the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s decisions when they are issued.
“Sometimes I am surprised by them. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I disagree,” he said. “What I always do, however, is respect those decisions and the autonomy of the bodies that make them. Whether we personally like a decision or not is irrelevant.”
Balogun received a red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemović of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a 2-0 round of 32 win on Wednesday.
A red card requires the player to leave the game, with his team playing the rest of the match down a player, and triggers an automatic one-game suspension for the following match. While FIFA can increase the length of the suspension, it rarely sets one aside and has never done so in this manner in a World Cup.
The Belgian association said it was “astonished,” and Belgium coach Rudi Garcia mocked FIFA’s action.
“I didn’t know that in the offices of FIFA the Fifth of July was the First of April in Europe,” Garcia said Sunday through a translator.
“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,” the Belgian federation said.
Balogun’s red card had been one of the World Cup’s most controversial and consequential decisions. FIFA’s opting to let him to play after all was so unheard-of that many of the U.S. players didn’t initially believe it.
“The implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,” FIFA announced Sunday, without explaining its rationale, and adding that Balogun’s punishment would be reinstated if he commits a similar foul during that probation.
Balogun’s team-leading three goals in the tournament so far include the go-ahead strike against Bosnia. He has matched Landon Donovan in 2010 for the second-most goals by an American in a World Cup, behind only Bert Patenaude’s four in the initial tournament, in 1930.
A 25-year-old who plays for AS Monaco in France’s top division, Ligue 1, Balogun scored a club-leading 19 goals last season across all competitions, including five in the Champions League. He has 12 goals in 30 international appearances.
“He strikes fear into a lot of defenders,” U.S. center back Chris Richards said.
Balogun had been one of the stories of the tournament so far for the U.S. Born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents who were living in London, he was eligible to play for all three nations 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.”
FIFA said its decision relied on Article 27 of disciplinary committee rules: “The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure. By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the person sanctioned to a probationary period of one to four years,” the rule states.
FIFA announced in November it would defer the final two games of a three-match ban for Portugal’s superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for a red card against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier, allowing him to play in the World Cup.
Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi and Ecuadoran midfielder Moisés Caicedo in April had one-game bans deferred for red cards in qualifiers, also allowing them to be available in time for the tournament.
But the closest precedent for Balogun’s case, the lifting of a suspension incurred during the tournament itself, goes back decades: Brazil’s Garrincha was ejected from a 1962 semifinal but allowed to play in the final against Chile, after political pressure.
Julianne McShane contributed to this report, which also includes information from The Associated Press.
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