{"id":527932,"date":"2026-07-06T13:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/527932\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T13:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:46:13","slug":"uefa-accuses-fifa-of-crossing-a-red-line-over-lifting-of-folarin-baloguns-red-card-ban-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/527932\/","title":{"rendered":"Uefa accuses Fifa of \u2018crossing a red line\u2019 over lifting of Folarin Balogun\u2019s red card ban | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Uefa has hit out at Fifa\u2019s decision to lift USA striker Folarin Balogun\u2019s suspension for Monday\u2019s last-16 tie with Belgium<\/a>, describing the move as \u201cincomprehensible and unjustifiable\u201d and accusing world football\u2019s governing of crossing \u201ca red line\u201d.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s governing body made no bones over their opposition to the shock call, one Belgium have been granted an appeal against. There are no guarantees, however, over when that decision will be made or whether Fifa\u2019s reasoning for lifting Balogun\u2019s suspension will be made public.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump repeatedly lobbied Fifa to lift Balogun\u2019s suspension, with sources telling the Guardian the US president made three calls to Fifa<\/a>, starting on Wednesday, after Balogun was sent off in the USA\u2019s 2-0 last-16 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/a>, to ensure the change was made.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday\u2019s 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,\u201d read Uefa\u2019s statement. \u201cFootball, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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. We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) expressed their own \u201castonishment\u201d on Sunday at Fifa\u2019s decision to rescind Balogun\u2019s one-game ban, with their manager, Rudi Garcia, comparing it to an April Fools\u2019 Day joke. To compound Belgium\u2019s anger, it is understood that the RBFA has not received the reasons for Balogun\u2019s ban being overturned, which has only been explained by a brief reference to Article 27 of Fifa\u2019s disciplinary code, which gives its judicial committee the authority to \u201cfully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure\u201d. As a result, the RBFA has essentially submitted their appeal blind, and has not received any information on timings.<\/p>\n

As per Fifa regulations, the appeal will be heard by a member of Fifa\u2019s appeals committee that does not represent Uefa or Concacaf, the federations that Belgium and USA<\/a> are members of, to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Fifa\u2019s disciplinary processes are now under huge scrutiny, however, due to the unprecedented nature of Balogun\u2019s reprieve and the revelation that Trump was heavily involved in getting the 25-year-old\u2019s red card rescinded. The RBFA\u2019s appeal is unlikely to be the end of the matter, as they have made clear that they are exploring legal action against Fifa, whom they claim have broken their own statutes.<\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s foreign minister, Maxime Pr\u00e9vot, a former referee, has hit out at Fifa\u2019s intervention, saying: \u201cIf a phone call is really the reason for this incomprehensible decision, it would be a blatant violation of the most basic rules of football and sport\u201d. Glen Micallef, European commissioner for intergenerational fairness, youth, culture and sport, has also voiced his opposition. \u201cDecisions \u200bon sporting rules \u200band sporting matters belong to \u200bsporting \u200cbodies, not \u200bpoliticians,\u201d he said. \u201c\u200bInfluencing sporting decisions would undermine the autonomy of sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In London, Keir Starmer\u2019s official spokesman, asked about the rescinding of the red card, said: \u201cThose decisions are a matter for the football World Cup<\/a> governing body and should stay that way, and we are clear in that position \u2026 the prime minister supports the integrity of competition in all sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about whether Fifa\u2019s integrity was put into question by the Trump call, the spokesperson said: \u201cThat is a matter for Fifa to respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The USA manager, Mauricio Pochettino, praised Fifa\u2019s move and reiterated his view that the decision by Brazilian referee, Raphael Claus, to show Balogun a red card for making contact with Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic was harsh.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone that really loves the sport and trusts ethics and integrity, I think we celebrate all that decision,\u201d Pochettino said. \u201cWe were punished enough against Bosnia Herzegovina to play with 10 men for 30 minutes [because of] a decision that was completely unfair \u2026 99.9% of people agree there was an unfair red card.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uefa has hit out at Fifa\u2019s decision to lift USA striker Folarin Balogun\u2019s suspension for Monday\u2019s last-16 tie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-527932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}