US President Donald Trump has confirmed what was reported by several outlets on Sunday: that he directly influenced FIFA's decision to clear USA football player Folarin Balogun from his one-match suspension, allowing him to participate in tonight's round of 16 match against Belgium.
Speaking at the Oval Office on Monday, Trump confirmed he himself asked FIFA "simply to review the action", and that he spoke directly with FIFA President Gianni Infantino (who awarded him the "FIFA Peace Prize" last December) because he "didn't think it was a foul", referring to this action in a match between USA and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which caused Balogun, USA's top goal scorer with three goals so far, to receive a straight red card, triggering an automatic one-match ban for the following game.
<social>https://x.com/dilaw006/status/2073842687435067901</social>
This case has received an almost unanimous rejection from the world of football, with UEFA saying that "a red line has been crossed" and that the credibility of the tournament and integrity of the sport is at risk of being undermined.
Teams aren't allowed to protest to these automatic suspensions, which are fairly common, but Trump thought that it wasn't a foul, just "two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled", and used his influence to have FIFA take an unprecedented decision, one that directly contradicts FIFA's own rules that say that red card decisions are final, as the Royal Belgian Football Association has denounced.
For Trump, however, if Balogun had fulfilled his suspension, it would have "left a big stain in the competition". According to The Guardian, Trump began making the calls on Wednesday, trying to have FIFA reverse the decision, that would have prevented him for counting on their top striker before tonight match (2 AM CEST, 1 AM BST of Tuesday).