All credit to UEFA for calling out the disgraceful actions of the Gianni Infantino led FIFA at this World Cup.
Sunday saw FIFA plumb new depths, as Donald Trump thanked them for allowing Folarin Balogun to play for the USA in their last 16 match against Belgium despite having been given a red card that carried an automatic one game suspension.
The US President thanking FIFA for “reversing a great injustice” in a post on Truth Social. Donald Trump, a friend of Fifa president Gianni Infantino, wrote: “Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The USA striker was given a a straight red card for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic as the co-hosts won 2-0 in the round of 32 match. This meant a one-match suspension.
This led to lobbying from the USA government, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who demanded the decision be reviewed: “They got screwed with that red card. There needs to be an appeal process for that.”
Reported in the media that Donald Trump personally rang Gianni Infantino about the situation…
USA’s star striker Folarin Balogun now magically able to play for his country against Belgium in their last 16 match against Belgium on (UK time) Tuesday morning at 1am, FIFA suspending the one-match ban in order to let him do so.
Quite incredible. Quite appalling.
Official UEFA statement on 6 July 2026 regarding FIFA decision related to Folarin Balogun begins: ‘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.’
UEFA then going on to add: ‘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.’
Yes this is all normal, happens all the time to loads of players who play for loads of different countries at every World Cup finals.
You only have to ask yourself one question. If this had been a Belgium player who had got red carded, would he have seen his one-game ban suspended so he could play against the USA???
It is shameful and just imagine how Belgium will feel about this if Balogun ends up helping the USA to defeat them?
Fifa under Gianni Infantino appear to have somehow become so much worse than they ever were under Sepp Blatter. Which takes some doing!