Belgian officials expressed shock and fury after FIFA announced on Sunday that it was lifting a one-game suspension against a star U.S. soccer player before a World Cup game against Belgium.
The decision came after President Trump called FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, and asked the association to review the suspension of Folarin Balogun, the American team’s top goal scorer in the tournament. Mr. Balogun received the red card after a tussle with an opponent during the U.S. victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday.
Maxime Prévot, Belgium’s foreign minister and a former soccer referee, said the decision undermined FIFA’s expressed commitment to fair play.
“This decision clearly raises many questions,” Mr. Prévot said in a statement to The New York Times on Monday. “If a phone call really is what explains this incomprehensible decision, it would amount to undermining the most basic rules of soccer and sports.”
The Royal Belgian Football Association said in a statement said that it was “astonished” by the decision and “investigating all potential options.”
Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia said the Belgian soccer federation was not “just defending itself or the national team, it’s defending football in general.”
The Belgian team has been granted the right to appeal against FIFA’s decision, but there was no guarantee that a ruling would be possible before kickoff on Monday at 8 p.m. ET.
The decision by FIFA, the world soccer governing body, was highly unusual and a boost to the American team before it plays Belgium in a Round of 16 game. Mr. Infantino has curried favor with Mr. Trump, and last year awarded him the first FIFA Peace Prize amid the president’s public, but failed, campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr. Trump has done little to assuage concerns that political pressure played a role in Mr. Balogun’s sudden change in fortune. He praised the reversal in a post on Truth Social on Sunday night, though he did not say that he had called Mr. Infantino nor did he take credit for the decision.
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice,” Mr. Trump wrote.
In a statement, the White House confirmed that Mr. Trump and Mr. Infantino had spoken about the red card, and added that “the correct and proper outcome was achieved” after what it described as an independent review. The statement said that the U.S. government had provided information for that process but declined to provide additional details of the conversation between the pair.
The U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Bill White, defended FIFA’s decision in a post on X on Monday and said, “President Trump would never interfere with the inner workings of FIFA.”
UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, said in a statement that FIFA’s reversal had “crossed a red line,” calling it “an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”
Sepp Blatter, a former FIFA president, said that the episode raised serious questions about the organization and Mr. Infantino, who has already faced ethics complaints for openly courting Mr. Trump.
“Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies,” he posted on X.
Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, asked on Monday for comment on FIFA’s decision, referred questions to an Instagram post attributed to his cat.
“Red card?” the post says, in Dutch. “I’m going to play anyway!”
Koba Ryckewaert contributed reporting from Brussels.
