{"id":748343,"date":"2026-07-07T11:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T11:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/748343\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T11:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T11:02:09","slug":"fifa-defends-balogun-red-card-referee-after-trump-calls-him-a-bit-suspect-world-cup-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/748343\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA defends Balogun red card referee after Trump calls him \u2018a bit suspect\u2019 | World Cup 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

Raphael Claus is \u2018one of the world\u2019s leading professional referees\u2019, FIFA says, following Trump\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

Published On 7 Jul 20267 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

FIFA has thrown its full support behind Brazilian referee Raphael Claus after \u2060\u2060United States President Donald \u2060\u2060Trump questioned his integrity following the red card shown to United States striker Folarin Balogun, which sparked a \u2060\u2060controversy at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Balogun was sent off by Claus after a VAR check in the last-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina for planting \u2060\u2060his boot into the ankle of Tarik Muharemovic. However, FIFA later suspended Balogun\u2019s red-card ban.<\/p>\n

Trump said on Monday that he had asked for the decision to be reviewed, describing Claus as \u201ca little bit suspect if you check his past\u201d, without elaborating.<\/p>\n

\u201cFIFA \u200c\u200crecognises Raphael Claus as one of the world\u2019s leading professional referees and a valued member of Team One \u2013 FIFA\u2019s elite group of referees \u2013 at the FIFA World Cup,\u201d FIFA said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout his career, he has consistently demonstrated the highest standards of professionalism and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA said Claus was not available for comment, in line with its policy of \u2060\u2060referees not speaking to the media during the tournament. \u2060\u2060FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that referees must be respected.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce more, I reiterate that we must respect the referees and respect the rules that govern our game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very \u2060\u2060simple and cannot ever be overstated \u2013 without referees, there is no football.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SANTAReferee Raphael Claus showed USA\u2019s Folarin Balogun a red card for a foul on Tarik Muharemovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina [Michael Steele\/Getty Images via AFP]<\/p>\n

Pierluigi Collina, FIFA\u2019s \u2060\u2060chief refereeing officer and the chairman of the Referees Committee, emphasised the organisation\u2019s faith in the 46-year-old Claus, who has officiated in more than 600 matches in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cRaphael Claus is refereeing at his second FIFA World Cup, having been with us in Qatar \u200c\u200cin 2022,\u201d Collina said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an experienced and highly respected referee, and we maintain full confidence in him as a trusted match official.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balogun was \u200c\u200ceventually \u200c\u200callowed to start Monday\u2019s last-16 clash with Belgium and was named in the starting lineup by coach Mauricio Pochettino.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Raphael Claus is \u2018one of the world\u2019s leading professional referees\u2019, FIFA says, following Trump\u2019s comments. Published On 7…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,12,399,3,1079,21,19,22,20,25,1209,24,84938,153412],"class_list":["post-748343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-donald-trump","tag-football","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-canada","tag-usa","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}