Lise Klaveness, the president of the the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF), has said she will ask her board to pursue a formal ethics complaint over the suspension of Folarin Balogun’s World Cup ban.
In an interview with The Times, she also urged FIFA president Gianni Infantino to admit it was an “error” to suspend the ban, saying “we all know” the decision was influenced by external pressure.
The United States striker was sent off against Bosnia-Herzegovina but was free to play in the World Cup round-of-16 win over Belgium after FIFA’s disciplinary committee suspended his automatic one-match ban.
U.S. President Donald Trump told the media prior the World Cup match vs. Belgium that he asked Infantino to review the red card given.
The decision followed a phone call between Trump and Infantino, with the U.S. president later saying FIFA had made a “great decision.” Infantino has maintained that FIFA’s judicial bodies operate independently.
“When you bend a rule like this, you’re on a slippery slope that will put the whole game at risk. It is a worry for the game when you compromise fundamental rules of the game,” Klaveness said.
“First of all, it should not have happened. It is very important now to have honest communication around it. We all know that this verdict was influenced from external forces and did not have the proper process.
“We need our leader in FIFA to say that this was an error.
“If you start to adapt in such a way towards state leaders and state politics, you will move your behaviour and the organisation’s behaviour, and also the red line of what states’ leaders should interfere with. And that happened.”
Klaveness also questioned why such a controversial case was decided by a single member of FIFA’s disciplinary committee.
Sources told ESPN that, as first reported by The Times, FIFA disciplinary committee chair Mohammad Al Kamali made the decision to suspend Balogun’s ban alone.
“When there has been an external, very powerful voice in your ear, it’s very important that you have more voices making the decision,” she said. “If you don’t, it’s a mistake.”
She added that trying to “sweep this under the carpet” would not succeed because “too many” people in football had been troubled by the case.
“This case was so serious and so worrying that I hope that it might contribute to bring people out a little bit and don’t fear to bring up cases,” she said. “I will bring it to a board meeting and discuss with my board, and then we do it. To me, it should be in the same sphere of ethical complaint.”
Read more:Gianni Infantino reported to IOC over Donald Trump ties at World Cup
According to The Times Klaveness wants to add the case to the existing ethics complaint about the FIFA Peace Prize being awarded to Trump.
Klaveness’ comments come after a complaint alleging Infantino breached rules on political neutrality in his dealings with Trump was submitted to the International Olympic Committee.
The NFF wrote to FIFA’s ethics committee last month asking it to consider FairSquare’s complaint.
ESPN has asked FIFA to comment on Klaveness’ statements.
