{"id":938561,"date":"2026-07-06T22:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/938561\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T22:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:00:21","slug":"belgian-football-body-challenges-reversal-of-baloguns-world-cup-suspension-donald-trump-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/938561\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian football body challenges reversal of Balogun\u2019s World Cup suspension | Donald Trump News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Belgian football federation has vowed \u201cto challenge\u201d FIFA\u2019s controversial reversal of a red card game suspension<\/a> against Folarin Balogun, which allows the star USA player to take the field in the round of 16 World Cup match against Belgium.<\/p>\n

The statement on Monday from the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) came hours before the match was set to begin, and as US President Donald Trump defended directly reaching out to FIFA\u2019s President Gianni Infantino ahead of the controversial decision.<\/p>\n

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The federation charged that FIFA did not follow the proper protocol in allowing an appeal of its lifting of Balogun\u2019s game suspension, the result of a red card shown during the round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.<\/p>\n

The RBFA said, given FIFA\u2019s conduct, the federation \u201chas no alternative but to challenge [Balogun\u2019s] eligibility for the upcoming match\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole,\u201d the federation said.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, the federation said its appeal had been deemed \u201cinadmissable\u201d by the FIFA Appeal Committee. It further accused FIFA of a \u201cbreach\u201d of regulations for not providing its justifications.<\/p>\n

It added it had informed the US Soccer Federation that it contests Balogun\u2019s eligibility for Monday\u2019s match.<\/p>\n

Trump says he asked Infantino to \u2018review\u2019 the decision<\/p>\n

The decision to lift Balogun\u2019s one-game suspension came shortly after Trump spoke directly to Infantino.<\/p>\n

That has raised eyebrows and accusations of political meddling in the tournament, with critics noting it is exceedingly rare for FIFA to lift a game suspension during the World Cup, even when a referee makes a questionable call.<\/p>\n

If Balogun is allowed to play, it would be the first time since 1962 that a red card issued at the World Cup did not result in a suspension.<\/p>\n

FIFA has said it relied on Article 27 of its disciplinary committee rules to reverse the game ban. The provision states \u201cthe judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure\u201d.<\/p>\n

FIFA had earlier said the game ban could not be appealed by Team USA.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump denied that he directly influenced FIFA\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll \u2060I did, I asked for a review, \u2060because I didn\u2019t \u2060think it \u2060was a foul,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was two great athletes that crashed [into] each other and got entangled.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further called football referee Raphael Claus \u201cvery suspect\u201d. He added, \u201cIf you want, I\u2019ll provide you with the past\u201d, without providing further details.<\/p>\n

Later on Monday, Infantino also released his version of the call, which he said was among many he regularly receives from \u201cheads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues\u201d.<\/p>\n

Infantino maintained he was not involved in the decision on Balogun\u2019s suspension and was only made aware after it was released.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA\u2019s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Keep politics out\u2019<\/p>\n

To be sure, several leading football pundits have questioned the decision by Claus to show Balogun the red card.<\/p>\n

Many have argued that Balogun incidentally stepped on the ankle of Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic during an otherwise legitimate challenge, and the contact did not warrant the potentially tournament-transforming penalty.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the unusual series of events is likely to cast a further pall of politics over the games ahead, adding to criticism of the Trump administration\u2019s treatment of Iran\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n

Observers have said the optics of Trump\u2019s intervention could taint any future success of the USA team, which has far exceeded expectations under head coach Mauricio Pochettino.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is embarrassing to a wonderful US team and a wonderful player,\u201d Shibley Telhami, a professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland, wrote on X following FIFA\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep politics out. This US team is good enough to win honourably. Now, a win will be diminished.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Belgian football federation has vowed \u201cto challenge\u201d FIFA\u2019s controversial reversal of a red card game suspension against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[114802,78,7145,7,88,686,28022,37344],"class_list":["post-938561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-belgium","tag-donald-trump","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-world-cup-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116875285204583326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}