The decision to suspend a ban for Folarin Balogun was taken solely by the chairman of FIFA’s disciplinary committee Mohammad Al-Kamali.
This is extremely unusual. Although FIFA do hear cases with a sole arbiter often, it’s traditionally one of the other 17 members and Jorge Palacio.
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Precedent-setting cases usually have a three-person panel.
The decision for Al-Kamali to hear the case alone will raise further questions of FIFA.
FIFA claim the decision was made independently but have faced backlash after eSPORTY exclusively revealed Donald Trump asked FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review Balogun’s sending off against Bosnia & Herzegovina.
The 25-year-old was dismissed after catching Tarik Muharemovic on the calf with his studs during a tangle for the ball.
Trump subsequently confirmed his intervention, and Balogun was handed a suspended one-match ban.
He played in USA’s 4-1 loss to Belgium.
Balogun is the only player to be sent off at this summer’s World Cup and have their ban suspended.
Of the remaining 13 players to have been shown red cards, they will either serve their bans immediately outside the tournament or have done so at the World Cup.
The decision has raised questions given all other red cards at the tournament have been immediately served, including Jarrell Quansah, who is serving a two-game ban for his red against Mexico.
The FA had no ability to appeal despite the fact that US Soccer’s case centred on excessive use of slow-mo and still images to misrepresent the incident, yet VAR showed similar images prior to Quansah’s sending off.
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Quansah missed England’s quarter-final win over Norway as he served the first match of his ban.
The defender remains unavailable for Wednesday’s semi-final clash with Argentina.
He will be cleared to return to action for either the third-place play-off or final depending on the Three Lions’ result in midweek.
England assistant manager Anthony Barry revealed his disappointment over the decision when the ban was confirmed.
Speaking prior to the win over Norway, Barry explained: “Disappointing, not with the decision, just the fact that we lose a good player.
“He was excellent in training, and of course we have some injuries in that position, so it looked like a space had opened up for Jarell.
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“But the decision’s been made, we won’t waste any more energy on it.
“Overall for us, we lose a good player for two games, but it’s just another hurdle that we have to overcome.”
