The cancellation of the suspension of Folarin Balogun, the top US scorer at the World Cup, for the red card he received in the round of 32 match against Bosnia has become a political issue.
An unprecedented case, a decision taken in accordance with Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, but which evidently has political implications given the excellent relations between Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino , who participated in the Board of Peace for Gaza and who in 2025 awarded the US president the FIFA Peace Prize, the FIFA peace prize established just last year.
And indeed, as the New York Times reports, Trump himself called Infantino on Wednesday, asking him to reconsider the American striker's suspension. The American newspaper cited three people familiar with the conversation. Shortly afterward, FIFA announced that Balogun would be eligible to play in tonight's match against Belgium , and Trump thanked him on social media. "Thank you FIFA for doing the right thing and undoing a great injustice."
The decision sparked vehement protests from the Belgian Football Federation, which wrote a letter to FIFA.
And UEFA , in a statement, emphasized that FIFA "crossed a red line," taking an "unprecedented, incomprehensible, and unjustifiable" decision. Football, like any other sport, is based on rules, which are the foundation of fair, honest, and transparent competition. Sometimes, rules are open to interpretation. In this case, this is not the case," the European governing body continued in an unusually severe statement.
“When the certainty of the rules is no longer guaranteed by its custodians, the integrity of the game is in danger and the credibility of a competition is undermined,” UEFA concluded.
Even the president of the Italian Football Federation, Giovanni Malagò , called it a "strange story," "an absurdity," a decision "that has a clear political flavor ." "It's a very dangerous precedent, I hope they realize that," he concluded. "I'm a supporter of this World Cup with full stadiums and so much enthusiasm, but when you see a decision like this, it undermines the meritocracy that is the foundation of football."
