Trump says he intervened to overturn Balogun red card as FIFA and rivals dispute FIFA decision

The Joy of the World Cup Just Collided With Trump

This year’s World Cup has been unusually thrilling on the field, even by the tournament’s high standards for drama, and has largely gone off without a hitch, despite prior concerns about stadium travel logistics for fans and whether the obscenely expensive matches would sell out. But the Cup has not been without off-field controversy, thanks largely to the Trump administration’s xenophobia. The U.S. blocked a FIFA referee from Somalia from entering the country, and did not allow the Iranian national team to stay in the country for more than one night before its two matches in Los Angeles, forcing them to be based in Tijuana, Mexico (for Iran’s third match, in Seattle, the team was allowed to arrive two nights beforehand, though the team had to leave the country soon after each of their games concluded).Yet those moves, and the unavoidable reality that the principal host nation is run by an authoritarian president, somehow have not sullied the World Cup, which, at its best, serves as a potent display of multiculturalism and global togetherness. Hundreds of thousands of fans from all over the world have been welcomed to the U.S., whose national team includes players who have spent most of their lives living abroad, principally in Europe. No player better represents that World Cup than Folarin Balogun, a star striker at Monaco in France’s top league and the U.S. team’s highest scorer in this tournament. Balogun is a U.S. citizen only because his mother was deemed too pregnant to fly back to England from the U.S. In other words, as many have pointed out, he is precisely the type of birthright citizenship case that Trump wishes to abolish.The team last week won its first knockout game in 24 years because of a goal from Balogun, but he was later given an unduly harsh red card, which triggered a series of events that have engulfed FIFA in particular, and the World Cup in general, in a typically Trumpian controversy that may sour the event from here on out.That red card carried a one-match ban for Balogun, with no chance to appeal, thereby keeping him out of Monday night’s game against Belgium in the round of 16. But on Sunday, FIFA announced that it had effectively lifted his punishment, allowing him to play while on probation of sorts. Why did FIFA do this? Because they can, mostly. There is a statute in their rule book that allows them to suspend red cards whenever they want, a power they used ahead of this tournament so that several players—notably global superstar Cristiano Ronaldo—could play in opening matches that they otherwise would have had to sit out. FIFA has a long history of bending the rules in the interest of providing the best possible on-field entertainment.Which is just another way of saying that FIFA doesn’t care nearly as much about the integrity of the sport as it does about money. The success of the U.S. Men’s National Team is important to FIFA because the U.S. is the tournament’s main host and source of revenue. Because of the cost of tickets and the Trump administration’s nativist immigration policies, U.S. residents are also the people buying the most tickets. So it’s in FIFA’s financial interest to keep the U.S. happy. FIFA surely knew that wiping out Balogun’s red card, even though the ref’s decision was widely considered wrong, would be controversial—but it bet that ultimately people would forget about it because during World Cups, the on-field action almost always prevails over off-field issues. That might have been the case here, except for one thing: Trump. The Balogun reversal has grown into an international incident largely because, as The New York Times reported on Sunday, the president intervened on behalf of the USMNT with a call to FIFA president Gianni Infantino. By Monday, Trump was patting himself on the back. “I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man who’s highly respected.… I’m the one who got them to do it,” he said at a press conference. “It was not Biden, Biden was asleep!”The Royal Belgian Football Association appealed the decision, but FIFA on Monday afternoon rejected it. The Union of European Football Associations, Europe’s governing body, has come to Belgium’s defense, turning this into a nasty proxy fight. The USMNT is caught in the middle.The reversal of Balogun’s suspension is part of a long history of FIFA inserting itself to protect its own interests. But what makes this decision different, and what has elevated it into a profound crisis, is Trump’s involvement. Even with the USMNT’s on-field success, the administration has largely kept quiet, at least by its standards. Administration officials, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have attended games, but the president has been relatively quiet.But that was never going to last. Trump had long planned to not just attend the Cup final but to hand the trophy to the captain of the winning team. The controversy over Balogun’s suspension, it seems, was too good for him to stay away, especially since it allowed him to take credit for an outcome that FIFA probably would have arrived at without the U.S.’s intense lobbying campaign. This is also an opportunity for Trump to recite his familiar list of grievances—and not just against Biden. In the press conference on Monday, Trump said, referring to Belgium, “If they beat us [with Balogun], they can be really proud. The other way, if they beat us, we’ll say—I say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020, but I won’t get into that.” We have grown used to rolling our eyes when Trump says such things, but for him to utter this familiar lie in the context of the World Cup makes one’s blood boil anew. Trump has now poisoned a USMNT that had, until this point, remarkably good vibes. This was a team that you could get behind regardless of your political allegiance. It was also a team that was truly multicultural, and that, like most of this tournament, has not fallen victim to America’s toxic politics or FIFA’s blatant corruption. No more. FIFA’s opaque, rotten bureaucracy has aligned with Trump’s megalomania for a perfect storm that has the power to wreck this World Cup, at least for fans of the underdogs in red, white, and blue.

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FIFA Loses Control of World Cup After Bending the Knee to Trump

President Trump’s intervention to lift the red card ban on U.S. Men’s National Team soccer player Folarin Balogun is breaking the integrity of the World Cup tournament. Now the French national team has appealed to FIFA, the soccer governing body, to rescind Michael Olise’s yellow card, which he received during the match with Paraguay on Saturday. Olise was penalized for a tackle for contact with Paraguyan Matias Galarza’s face, but replays showed Olise only held Galarza’s shirt.   A yellow card doesn’t directly translate into a suspension like a red card, but France evidently feels that overturning Balogun’s suspension has opened the door. It follows British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also intervening with FIFA to prevent the start time for England’s match against Mexico being moved up over weather concerns, with England believing that they wouldn’t have enough time to train for high-altitude conditions at Mexico’s national stadium, Estadio Azeteca. British Attorney General Richard Hermer also may intervene with FIFA to overturn England player Jarrell Quansah’s red card, issued Sunday versus Mexico, The Telegraph reports. FIFA, meanwhile, denied an appeal from Belgium Monday challenging the decision to lift Balogun’s red card.The red card came after Balogun awkwardly stepped on Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemović’s ankle during the match on Wednesday. Hours after the game ended, Trump called up FIFA President Gianni Infantino to complain about the decision, and on Sunday, FIFA’s disciplinary committee announced it was overturning Balogun’s suspension, leaving him free to join the U.S.-Belgium game Monday.It’s the first time a red card has been rescinded in this manner since 1962, and Trump enlisted the full force of the U.S. government to get the foul overturned, with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and White House World Cup task force director Andrew Giuliani quickly engaging lawyers to help U.S. Soccer put together an appeal. On Monday in the White House, Trump openly bragged to reporters about his role in getting the suspension overturned, noting that he called Infantino himself, and attacking the match referee’s credibility. “He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s our best player, or one of our best players … and [the referee] gave him a red card. Then I started hearing that means he can’t play in the next game.… When they take your best player … and they say you can’t play? That’s very unfair,” Trump said. “So yes, I asked for a review by FIFA.… I’m the one that got them to [rescind the suspension]. It was not Biden. Biden was asleep.”Correct call or not, this chain of events has ruined the credibility of FIFA and this tournament. Infantino denied any kind of wrongdoing in a statement Monday, claiming that the FIFA Disciplinary Committee is an independent body. “Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues,” Infantino said. “During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.” Infantino’s predecessor, Sepp Blatter, himself banned from soccer activities over corruption allegations, ironically called out Infantino’s decision to overturn the red card in a post on X early Monday morning. “Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies. If a U.S. President intervenes with the FIFA President—and a player is suddenly cleared before a World Cup knockout match—the question is unavoidable: Quo vadis, FIFA? Football must never become a playground for political power. #FIFA #WorldCup #GianniInfantino #DonaldTrump,” Blatter posted. 

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World Cup 2026: Trump says he intervened to overturn red card in what has become a historic scandal

World Cup 2026: Trump says he intervened to overturn red card in what has become a historic scandal Submitted by Yasmine El-Sabawi on Mon, 07/06/2026 - 16:07 The US president said on Monday he only asked for a 'review', but Fifa's reversal has caused global outrage US President Donald Trump addresses reporters in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on 6 July 2026 (Evan Vucci/Reuters) Off US President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that he called Fifa boss Gianni Infantino directly to ask him to "review" a red card handed down to one of the US team's breakout stars, Folarin Balogun, last week.  On Sunday, Fifa stunned the sports world by reversing that red card and giving Balogun a one-year probationary period instead, using its rarely invoked Article 27 from the Fifa Disciplinary Code. The rule is often referred to as the "Cristiano Ronaldo Rule" after a Fifa disciplinary committee infamously invoked the article in November last year, ensuring Ronaldo would be eligible for Portugal's opening matches in the 2026 World Cup. The move has once again put the spotlight on Fifa for cosying up to the US president over the past year, as it sought to ensure a smoothly run and profitable tournament.  Shortly after Trump's comments, Infantino released his own statement, insisting that while he speaks to heads of state regularly about the World Cup, "FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent. They operate autonomously."  "I read the decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee when they are issued. Sometimes I am surprised by them. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I disagree. What I always do, however, is respect those decisions," the Fifa boss wrote. Trump insisted there was no foul to begin with.  "I'm a person that loves sports and was a good athlete, and I understand sports really well - really well - and that wasn't a foul. That wasn't even an infraction, that was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other," Trump told reporters on Monday at the White House. "So, yes, I asked for a review by Fifa. I spoke to a man who's highly respected, and by the way, whose level of respect has gone up tenfold," the president said of Infantino. Team USA boss Tim Ream told the programme Good Morning America on Monday that Balogun is "excited that he can actually contribute on the field and not just be a cheerleader" now.  "He's been beaming ear to ear since we all found out the news." In his remarks, Trump took a swipe at the referee who issued the red card, calling him "a little bit suspect, if you check his past". "I don't want to say that, because I don't like to create controversy, but very suspect. If you'd like, I'll provide you with the past," he said.  Brazilian referee Rafael Claus has already come under intense backlash on social media.  Politico had reported earlier that Andrew Giuliani, the White House Fifa World Cup Task Force executive director, alongside Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, and other senior US Soccer Federation officials, spent four days lobbying and organising to appeal the red card decision.  Global backlash Other teams that have already qualified for the quarter-finals, who also have key players cautioned or suspended, are now asking for their own review, given that Fifa has just set a precedent.  World Cup 2026: Fifa ‘crossed a red line’ after decision to overturn ban for US striker's red card Read More » France has appealed over star player Michael Olise's yellow card during the round of 16 match with Paraguay, and England boss Thomas Tuchel appeared to not quite so jokingly suggest in a press conference that perhaps Trump could help overturn Jarell Quansah’s red card suspension.  "Where does it start, and where does this end now?" he said.  Norway boss Stale Solbakken, whose team knocked out three-time champions Brazil on Sunday, told reporters that Fifa made a "bad bad bad bad bad decision".  Belgium, which is set to play the US on Monday, appealed Fifa's decision to let Balogun play within minutes of the Sunday announcement. "To be clear, as of this moment, the RBFA has still not received any decision or any explanation from FIFA regarding this matter. It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player's eligibility for the upcoming match," the Royal Belgian Football Association said in a statement on Monday. "Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply saddened 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." Several high-profile figures also waded into the controversial Fifa reversal, including the football governing body's former boss, Sepp Blatter, who has been embroiled in his own corruption scandal and has not been allowed to partake in Fifa activities since 2015.  "Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies. If a US President intervenes with the FIFA President - and a player is suddenly cleared before a World Cup knockout match - the question is unavoidable: Quo vadis, FIFA?" Blatter wrote on X on Monday. European football body UEFA said the reversal "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," the organisation said in a statement. "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." What happened? With some 30 minutes left of play in the US vs Bosnia and Herzegovina round of 32 match on Wednesday, Balogun received a straight red card for his foul play on Tarik Muharemovic after a video-assisted review, known as the VAR, by the referee.  There has been general agreement that Balogun's contact with Muharemovic's ankle was likely unintentional as the two players came tumbling down on the pitch. But Balogun is understood to have been sent off due to the potential for a career-ending injury to his opponent.  World Cup 2026: Did hydration breaks foil the campaigns of Arab teams? Read More » And because red cards mean an automatic next-match suspension, Balogun would miss a pivotal game against Belgium in the round of 16 on Monday night. Given it's a rare feat that Team USA even got this far in the tournament - and with the country hosting the remainder of the World Cup schedule - it appears the red card was too much of a risk for the Trump administration. "It's very unfair," Trump told reporters on Monday. "[Balogun] didn't do anything wrong, and he's our best player, or one of our best players, a very vital player. And [the referee] gave him a red card. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't think it meant much. Then I started hearing that that means you can't play in the next game," Trump explained, having moments earlier said that he understands sports very well. "It's one thing to penalise somebody for the game, but how do you penalise them for a game that hasn't been played yet?" Balogun is a US-UK dual national who was born in New York City but raised in London. As a star player for the US men's national team, he has benefited from the very birthright citizenship law that Trump has tried unsuccessfully to overturn.  World Cup 2026 Washington Trump says he intervened to overturn red card in what has become a historic scandal News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

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Trump Reveals How He Bullied FIFA to Lift Red Card Ban on Team USA

President Trump openly admitted to World Cup corruption while explaining how he got FIFA to rescind Team USA star Folarin Balogun’s red card suspension—the first time the soccer organization has done so since 1962. Balogun was initially supposed to be suspended from playing in Monday’s Round of 16 match against Belgium after receiving a red card for a tackle against Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemović last week. FIFA stated that teams are unable to appeal red cards, which keep a player out of the following game. Nevertheless, Balogun will be playing on Monday after Trump’s call with FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Belgium has challenged the decision at the time of this writing, but no update has been made. “Can you describe your phone call with Gianni Infantino about the red card?” a reporter asked Trump at the White House on Monday morning. “You’re asking me about the whole soccer thing? Yeah, I did, I spoke to Gianni, who’s highly respected, who’s produced the most successful World Cup in history by, they say, four times.… So I saw the play. And I’m a person that loves sports, was a good athlete. And I understand sports really well. Really well. And that wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction,” Trump replied. “That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other. You can’t take your foot and properly place it on somebody else’s foot—these were two great athletes that got tangled up. And this referee, who is a little bit suspect, if you check his past … he made a call that nobody could believe, even people on the other side.” Reporter: Can you describe your phone call with Gianni Infantino about the red card? Belgium is appealing the decision.Trump: You’re asking me about the whole soccer thing. So, yeah, I did. I spoke to Gianni. That wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two… pic.twitter.com/zpC1e5L818— Acyn (@Acyn) July 6, 2026“He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s our best player, or one of our best players … and [the referee] gave him a red card. Then I started hearing that means he can’t play in the next game.… When they take your best player … and they say you can’t play? That’s very unfair,” Trump continued. “So yes, I asked for a review by FIFA.… I’m the one that got them to [rescind the suspension]. It was not Biden. Biden was asleep.” “All I did, all I did, I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul. And, you know, again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul.” Trump was later asked about the Belgian response, and if he would speak to the country’s prime minister before the game. “The people in Belgium—if they win the game, they can be very proud. If they win the game with a player missing, it would have been a different feeling. You can’t do that, and I’m very glad. All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t say, “You have to do this,” he said. “This man is a smart, tough man, Gianni Infantino. He’s a smart, tough man, and his stock has gone through the roof.… I fear we have to have all the best players on the field.”Trump: The people in Belgium—if they win the game, they can be very proud. If they would have won the game with the player missing, it would have been a different feeling. You can’t do that, and I’m very glad.All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t say, “You have to do this.”… pic.twitter.com/CxJIVVsY0x— Acyn (@Acyn) July 6, 2026The decision has been met with protest from fans, the Royal Belgian Football Association, or RBFA, and even UEFA, the governing body of European soccer. “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,” UEFA said in a statement. “Equally, such a decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition.… “We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”Balogun’s tackle was certainly a foul. And even if you don’t agree that it should have been a red card, it is undeniable that the president of a country pressuring the FIFA president to go against a rule it hasn’t broken in 64 years is a baseline example of political corruption in sports. Infantino and Trump already have a questionable relationship, as the former’s gifting of the  “FIFA Peace Prize” to Trump raised conflict-of-interest questions that have now only grown louder. This play is being reviewed for a potential red card against the US pic.twitter.com/EdyPpgpycA— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 2, 2026“Decisions on sporting rules and sporting matters belong to sporting bodies, not politicians. Influencing sporting decisions would undermine the autonomy of sport,” European Commissioner for Fairness Glenn Micallef wrote on X. “Our focus should instead be on the real governance challenges facing sport, including the weaponisation of sport for political purposes.” 

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