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3 min readJul 6, 2026 09:15 PM IST
US President Donald Trump has admitted that he intervened to get FIFA to allow Folarin Balogun to play the hosts' FIFA World Cup round of 16 match against Belgium. (AP Photo)
US President Donald Trump has admitted that he lobbied with FIFA to review the one-match suspension of USA forward Folarin Balogun, a decision that has caused a furore in the ongoing 2026 World Cup. Balogun was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic, which usually also means a suspension for the next game. However, FIFA later said that the “implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year”, thus clearing him to play in USA’s next game, the round of 16 clash against Belgium.
The decision has been met with intense backlash from multiple quarters, which was only compounded by reports of stating that Trump’s calls to FIFA chief Gianni Infantino is what resulted in the suspension of the ban. The US President has now confirmed his role in an interaction with reporters at The Oval Office in the White House. “I saw the play. And I’m a person that loves sports and was a good athlete,” said Trump.
“I understand sports really well, really well. And that wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other. And this referee, who is a little bit suspect… I don’t like to create controversy, but very suspect. He made a call that nobody could believe. You know, even people on the other side, they said, ‘oh, we got lucky’. Wow. That’s very interesting.
“And he [Balogun] is our best player, or one of our best players, a very vital player. And he gave him a red card. I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t think it meant much. Then I started hearing that that means he can’t play in the next game. I said, boy, that’s a big, you know, if it happened to another player, it would have been unfair. But when they take your best player, or just about, and they say you can’t play, that’s very unfair. That’s you know, it’s one thing to penalise somebody for the game, but how do you penalise them for a game that hasn’t been played yet? It’s very unfair. You can’t do that.
“So yes, I asked for a review by Fifa. I spoke to a man who’s highly respected and by the way, whose level of respect has gone up tenfold. And he was good before this started. But, you know, he really pushed it in this country.”
English (US) ·