FIFA “crossed a red line” with its controversial decision to suspend US star Folarin Balogun’s one-game ban for a year, European football’s governing body UEFA said Monday.
FIFA’s decision, which came after President Donald Trump’s intervention, allows Balogun to play in the co-hosts’ World Cup last-16 encounter against Belgium later on Monday.
“Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line,” read UEFA’s strongly worded statement.
Football, like any other sport, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest, and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not.”
The European football body warned of the ramifications for the sport as a whole.
“Football is the most loved sport in the world because it is a beautiful game and is trusted because it is played everywhere with the same laws,” it said.
“A tournament is never a pure standalone, and, if the tournament in question is the World Cup, it has the power to drive positive or negative consequences for the game as a whole.
“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible, and unjustifiable decision.”
Balogun, who has three World Cup goals, was poised to miss the match in Seattle after receiving a straight red card following a video review for treading on a Bosnia-Herzegovina defender’s foot in the US’s 2-0 round-of-32 triumph.
A straight red card in FIFA rules results in a one-game ban.
Two sources familiar with the case told AFP that Trump called FIFA chief Gianni Infantino and asked him to examine Balogun’s sentence.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also openly urged for the card to be revoked.
The FIFA disciplinary committee decided to suspend the ban.
The ban will now be suspended for a year, according to the world football governing body, in a surprise move for which no reason was provided.
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
