{"id":823761,"date":"2026-07-24T19:53:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T19:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/823761\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T19:53:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T19:53:24","slug":"ioc-wont-pursue-infantino-on-fifa-world-cup-red-card-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/823761\/","title":{"rendered":"IOC won&#8217;t pursue Infantino on FIFA World Cup red-card ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">GENEVA \u2014 IOC member and FIFA leader Gianni Infantino will not have to explain to the Olympic body how U.S. President Donald Trump helped to stop a player\u2019s ban at the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The IOC said on Friday it has no jurisdiction to investigate Infantino\u2019s alleged lack of political neutrality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A London-based NGO formally complained this month to the International Olympic Committee ethics commission about Infantino, including his part in ensuring United States forward Folarin Balogun did not serve a mandatory one-game ban despite being sent off in the previous game.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/QIQHIRBL2NM47OCV4LSX5T6QHI.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Referee Raphael Claus of Brazil shows a red card to United States&#8217; Folarin Balogun, right, during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between the United States and Bosnia in Santa Clara, Calif., near San Francisco, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Pho&#8230; Referee Raphael Claus of Brazil shows a red card to United States&#8217; Folarin Balogun, right, during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between the United States and Bosnia in Santa Clara, Calif., near San Francisco, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The IOC\u2019s Olympic Charter cites neutrality among \u201cfundamental principles of Olympism\u201d for sports bodies like FIFA and its 100-plus members, which has included Infantino since 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">No formal investigation will be opened, the IOC said, because the complaint by rights group FairSquare did not relate to FIFA\u2019s or Infantino\u2019s specific relations with the Olympic body.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The complaint \u201crefers only to (FIFA\u2019s) decisions on its governance and its management, including its relations with government, and to (FIFA\u2019s) implementation of the rules of its sport,\u201d the IOC said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cConsequently, the complaint falls outside the IOC ethics commission\u2019s jurisdiction,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WXKLJDXPF4BUFMLDHGJSG6B5JU.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>FILE -Olympic Rings are pictured in front of The Olympic House, headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the opening of the executive board meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, March 28, 2&#8230; FILE -Olympic Rings are pictured in front of The Olympic House, headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the opening of the executive board meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, March 28, 2023. (Laurent Gillieron\/Keystone via AP, File) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The ethics body does not have independent powers to start investigations and sanction officials, but can make recommendations to the IOC executive board chaired by President Kirsty Coventry. She attended the World Cup final last Sunday at East Rutherford, New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Action has been taken against just one IOC member in the past eight years for unethical conduct: Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, a key power broker who built a reputation as the \u201ckingmaker\u201d of Olympic elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press<\/p>\n<p>Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GENEVA \u2014 IOC member and FIFA leader Gianni Infantino will not have to explain to the Olympic body&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-823761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}