President Donald Trump Personally Called FIFA President and Recruited Outside Lawyers to Overturn Folarin Balogun’s Suspension

Folarin Balogun has received permission to play in USMNT's Round of 16 fixture against Belgium.

President Donald Trump Personally Called FIFA President and Recruited Outside Lawyers to Overturn Folarin Balogun’s Suspension

Folarin Balogun and Donald Trump inside the circle (Image via ESPN/Yardbarker)

The USMNT thought they were wronged when the referee sent off forward Folarin Balogun for tackling a Bosnia & Herzegovina player in their Round of 32 clash last week. A red card meant Balogun would miss the USA’s next game against Belgium. Well, not anymore.

Per the latest news, FIFA is officially rescinding the red card, and Balogun can line up alongside Christian Pulisic and Antonio Freeman on Monday, July 6. It’s an unprecedented turn of events, requiring a pat on the hand by the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump.

Clay Travis, founder of Outkick, reported that a team of US dignitaries, led by Trump, spoke to FIFA’s governing body about Balogun’s dismissal.

President Trump, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, and White House task force head Andrew Giuliani put together a team of elite lawyers — from outside the government — to challenge the Flo Balogun red card. Specifically, they challenged the use of slow motion instant replay to give the red card, which they argued violated FIFA rules. The president also conveyed to Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, that the appeal had been filed and he believed the red card penalty was excessive. FIFA’s independent committee reviewed the decision and agreed the penalty was incorrectly given, rescinding it under their Rule 27 authority.

Clay Travis tweeted

Now, most soccer fans in the States would be wondering what Rule (article) 27 (Suspension of Implementation of Disciplinary Measures) is. Here are the full details:

  1. The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.
  2. By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the person sanctioned to a probationary period of one to four years.
  3. If the person benefiting from a suspended sanction commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked by the judicial body and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.
  4. Disciplinary measures relating to match manipulation cannot be suspended.

Trump later thanked FIFA for allowing Balogun to continue his World Cup adventure with a post on Truth Social.

Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!

President Trump wrote

Belgium head coach reacts to FIFA dismissing Folarin Balogun’s red card

Balogun is the USA’s top scorer in the tournament with three, tied with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Morocco’s Ismael Saibari, and Soufiane Rahimi, and one more than Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku. He’s a key player in that USMNT attack.

President Donald Trump Personally Called FIFA President and Recruited Outside Lawyers to Overturn Folarin Balogun's Suspension
Folarin Balogun (Image via Yardbarker)

Although there is a little over 24 hours until kickoff at Seattle Stadium, Balogun’s inclusion should boost the morale of his teammates. The same cannot be said for the Belgians. Head coach Rudi Garcia took a sarcastic dig at FIFA’s decision to let Balogun play.

I didn’t know that at the World Cup, the 5th of July is actually the first of April. It’s April Fools ‘ [Day]. We’re not defending the national team or federation; we are defending football.

Rudi Garcia said in a press conference

Clearly, the Belgium camp isn’t thrilled to learn that they have to make changes to their plan of attack given the amount of time they have.

It’s shaping up to be an interesting watch for the neutrals. Regardless of the outcome, this fixture will go down in history as a controversial matchup.

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