{"id":781601,"date":"2026-07-06T00:37:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T00:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/781601\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T00:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T00:37:21","slug":"astonished-belgium-vow-to-defend-football-after-fifas-shock-balogun-reversal-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/781601\/","title":{"rendered":"Astonished Belgium vow to \u2018defend football\u2019 after Fifa\u2019s shock Balogun reversal | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a Fifa media officer read aloud the statement confirming the governing body\u2019s shock reversal<\/a> of US striker Folarin Balogun\u2019s suspension on Sunday, Belgium coach Rudi Garcia and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois put their poker faces to work. Garcia stared straight down the aisle of the press conference room at Seattle Stadium. Courtois\u2019s eyes fluttered about, perhaps masking some rolls as he faced a press pack eager to make sense of an unexpected World Cup twist.<\/p>\n

Balogun\u2019s reinstatement came across as a joke to the Belgian boss, though he hardly seemed ready for a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know that 5 July was equal to 1 April [April Fools\u2019 Day] at Fifa,\u201d Garcia said in his native French. \u201cI think we should refer to the [statement] of my federation, the Belgian federation. I think a lot of things are in it. The federation does not defend itself, it does not defend the national team \u2013 it defends football in general. It defends its integrity. It defends its ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that statement released Sunday, the Belgian federation dove deeper into the disciplinary code in response to Fifa\u2019s citation of Article 27 to justify the change in Balogun\u2019s punishment. Fifa had previously used Article 27 to clear Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> to start Portugal\u2019s opening World Cup game after he received a red card in a November qualifier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Royal Belgian Football Association [RBFA] is astonished by Fifa\u2019s decision to declare suspended United States player Folarin Balogun eligible to play,\u201d it said. \u201cIn order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup<\/a> and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if it was fair to Belgium\u2019s preparations to make such a change on the eve of a knockout match, Courtois demurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a question for the football world, not for me as a player,\u201d the goalkeeper said. \u201cOf course it surprises you a bit, especially because it\u2019s the day before the game. If the day after the game it\u2019s already decided, you can adjust to it. But as a player group, we have to win the game on the field. He\u2019s a good player, but we have to win against the whole of America. For us as a group of players, we are going to do our thing on the field. We deserve it with our football and we want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

As word of the suspension of Balogun\u2019s ban began to spread, Norway head coach St\u00e5le Solbakken became the first to comment on it, doing so after his team\u2019s 2-0 win over Brazil in the last 16.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is a big mistake by Fifa. It is not a great conclusion. He got a red card and the VAR concluded that it was a red card. That means you are suspended for one game,\u201d he said. \u201cI think what is really bad about that situation is, if the USA<\/a> beat Belgium, they will always have that extra thing about it. The Belgians will be furious. What about the next red card? What happens there? Will some committee take it away? It\u2019s a bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup and the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a Fifa media officer read aloud the statement confirming the governing body\u2019s shock reversal of US striker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-781601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}