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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
