The United States crashed out of the World Cup with a 4-1 defeat to Belgium in the round of 16, but the story of their tournament will be defined not by the final score but by the political intervention that preceded it. The build-up was dominated by the controversy over Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension being suspended for a year – a decision US President Donald Trump confirmed he had requested from FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Balogun had been sent off against Bosnia-Herzegovina and missed the rest of that game. World Cup rules do not allow appeals against red cards. Yet more than 24 hours after its initial decision, FIFA released an 871-word statement that shed little light on why it overturned the ban. Someone else, however, was less reticent. "I'm the one that got them to do it," Trump said when asked if he had phoned Infantino. The president said "all" he did was ask for a review, insisting he did not tell Infantino to suspend the ban.
“Trump confirms he asked FIFA to review Balogun's red card ban, triggering 'madness' charge from Klopp.”
Infantino rejected any suggestion of political interference, maintaining that the disciplinary committee was independent. But for former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, the implications were clear. "This is our sport, not theirs," he said. "If Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino really sorted this out between themselves, it is madness; it calls everything into question." The suspension of the ban felt like a presidential pardon.
FIFA's statutes are unequivocal: political interference is not permitted. Countries are regularly suspended from international football because of government involvement in national associations – Pakistan, for instance, have been suspended three times in the space of eight years. Yet when it comes to Infantino and Trump, the rules appeared different. Trump was bestowed with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize during the World Cup draw, the culmination of two years of Infantino fostering a close relationship with the US president.
The decision did not benefit just any team; it went to the co-hosts, led by a man who calls the FIFA president his friend. In the end, Belgium had the last laugh. A brace from Charles de Ketelaere and strikes from Hans Vanaken and Romelu Lukaku secured a comfortable win, sending the US home. The fallout leaves Infantino's 10-year tenure under renewed scrutiny, but given the precedent set, the question now is whether the rules apply equally to all.