FIFA reverses Balogun ban, sparking European outrage over Trump call

FIFA reversed Folarin Balogun’s one-game World Cup ban, putting the U.S. striker back in the lineup for Monday’s Round of 16 match against Belgium at Seattle Stadium. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee suspended the straight red card Balogun received in the United States’ round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, leaving the punishment on hold for a one-year probationary period rather than erasing it outright.

The decision immediately ignited anger in Europe. UEFA said FIFA had “crossed a red line” and called the ruling “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable,” warning that it endangered the integrity of the game. Belgium’s football federation moved to appeal to FIFA’s Appeal Committee, with a deadline of about 5 a.m. local time in the United States.

The case acquired a sharper political edge because it followed a reported call from President Donald Trump to FIFA president Gianni Infantino asking for a review of the red card. Trump later praised the decision and said he had asked only that FIFA review the call, not that it reach a specific outcome. That sequence has intensified scrutiny of Infantino’s ties to Trump and fed a broader European narrative that U.S. pressure can reach into international sporting institutions when the stakes are high.

Balogun had scored three goals in the tournament before his dismissal, and U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino argued that the foul was not a red-card offense. The timing only deepened the political resonance: the 2026 FIFA World Cup opened on June 11 and will end in East Rutherford on July 19, after a European qualifying campaign that ran from March to November 2025 and a set of play-offs in March 2026. For European officials, the reversal looked less like a routine disciplinary adjustment than a decision made under extraordinary outside pressure.