Donald Trump has confirmed he spoke to FIFA president Gianni Infantino about the red card shown to United States striker Folarin Balogun after the US striker’s one-match ban was reversed.
The US striker, who has scored three goals at the tournament, was sent off for his challenge on Tarik Muharemovic during the second half of their 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
But his single-match ban has now been suspended for a probationary period of one year, after lobbying from Trump.
FIFA has allowed Balogun to play against Belgium in the knock-out clash on Monday evening despite receiving a red card and a one-match ban last week in the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, sparking a furious response from UEFA and praise from the US president.
The reversal has caused a row with the European football governing body UEFA, which said FIFA had “crossed a red line” by rowing back the referee’s verdict.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, the US president said the incident did not constitute a foul and the referee was “a little bit suspect”.
If Fifa’s decision stands, it will be the first time since 1962 that a red card during a World Cup did not result in a suspension.
He made a thinly-veiled reference to the controversy.
Speaking at the White House for the launch of Trump Accounts, the US government’s new child savings programme, the president said: “We have the press, they don’t want to know anything about soccer slash football.
“Fortunately, they won’t be asking any questions on that. Nobody cares about that, right?”
Earlier UEFA issued a statement that hit back at the global governing body.
“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,” it said.
The Belgian football federation was preparing an appeal in Seattle in the early hours of Monday to challenge the Balogun ruling before a FIFA-appointed appeals judge.
The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said it was “astonished” by FIFA’s decision and said an appeals process had been started without its consent.
In a statement on Monday, RBFA said: “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.”
On Sunday, Trump hailed the decision by Fifa’s disciplinary committee to allow Balogun to participate in the World Cup co-hosts’ last-16 clash.
Writing on his Truth Social account, President Trump said: “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!”
According to FIFA’s disciplinary code, should the 25-year-old commit “another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement”.
A FIFA disciplinary committee statement read: “By operation of Article 27 FDC, the implementation of the automatic match suspension for USA player Folarin Balogun is suspended for a probationary period of one (1) year.”
Downing Street said World Cup disciplinary decisions should remain a matter for FIFA, after facing questions about Trump’s reported lobbying.
Pressed whether the case had brought FIFA’s integrity into question, a spokesman replied: “It’s a matter for FIFA to respond to. As I say, our position is very clear that those decisions are a matter for the governing body, and that the Prime Minister supports the integrity of competition in all sports.”
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