UEFA have strongly criticised FIFA‘s decision to suspend USMNT striker Folarin Balogun’s red card, thus allowing the United States striker to be available for the World Cup round-of-16 match against Belgium.
Balogun, who is the USMNT’s leading scorer at the tournament with three goals, was shown a straight red card for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic during their 2-0 win in the previous round.
FIFA said on Sunday that Balogun’s automatic one-match ban would be suspended for a year, citing a rule which allows punishments to be suspended, much to UEFA’s incredulity.
“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision,” Europe‘s football governing body said in a statement posted on their website.
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“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.”
U.S. President Donald Trump posted a message on his social media platform — Truth Social — thanking FIFA “for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice!”
ABC confirmed reports that Trump had called FIFA last week to ask its president Gianni Infantino to review Balogun’s red card. Belgium’s Football Federation expressed its shock at the red card reversal and said it was “investigating all potential options.”
UEFA said that FIFA, by making an exception with Balogun and doing so in the middle of the World Cup, has put the integrity of the game “at stake” and set a precedent.
“Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition,” the UEFA statement added. “Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not. A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted.
“It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.
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“When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined.
“Equally, such decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition.”
The USMNT take on Belgium on Monday evening as both sides seek a place in the quarterfinals.
