Washington DC [US], July 6 : US President Donald Trump said he spoke to FIFA president Gianni Infantino to "review" the footballer Folarin Balogun's one-match suspension triggered by a red card, which was later suspended, allowing the forward to feature in Monday's FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 encounter against Belgium at Seattle Stadium.
Balogun was shown a red card in the 64th minute of the United States' 2-0 Round of 32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, afterwards, FIFA announced that the implementation of Balogun's automatic one-match suspension had been suspended under Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, following an intervention by Trump, who urged the organisation to review the case.
In its statement, FIFA said, "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."
Now, in a video shared by C-SPAN on X, Trump, while taking questions from reporters, said he had spoken with Infantino and questioned the red card decision, arguing that the incident was a normal collision between two players running at full speed. He added that the referee's decision was "suspect," said the player did nothing wrong, and stated that he had requested FIFA to review the incident.
"I spoke to Gianni who's highly respected. 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. You... you can't take your foot and properly place it on somebody else's foot when you're going... No, these were two great athletes that got tangled up and this referee, who is 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. He (Balogun) didn't do anything wrong, and he's one of our best players, a very vital player, and he gave him a red card. So, yes I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man who's highly respected. I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul," Trump said.
The decision comes as a significant boost for head coach Mauricio Pochettino, with Balogun emerging as one of the USA's standout performers at the tournament. The 25-year-old New York-born striker has already scored three goals in the World Cup and is expected to lead the line against Belgium.
Notably, FIFA's decision was met with strong opposition, especially from the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA), which described the ruling as surprising and said it is exploring all possible avenues to protect its interests.
In an official statement issued on Sunday, the RBFA said it was "astonished by FIFA's decision to declare suspended United States player Folarin Balogun eligible to play in the USA-Belgium match" and questioned the legal basis for the ruling.
While acknowledging that FIFA had relied on Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the Belgian federation argued that other regulations clearly mandate an automatic suspension following a red card.
The statement said, "Article 66.4 of the same FIFA Disciplinary Code clearly provides that a red card (sending-off) automatically results in a suspension for the team's next match, as has been the case for all previous red cards issued during this FIFA World Cup."
In another video shared by C-SPAN on X, US Senator Ted Cruz thanked Donald Trump for getting the red-card decision overturned, calling it "ridiculous" while hailing the move "spectacular."
"And on behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous red card. It was spectacular. There was a reason the FIFA trophy sat here for as long as it did," he said.