USA striker Folarin Balogun predicted President Trump’s involvement in overturning his World Cup suspension would “cause a lot of controversy”.
The Monaco forward was sent off with a red card in the United States’ round-of-32 meeting with Bosnia and Herzegovina, but FIFA’s disciplinary committee then suspended the one-match ban for a year, allowing Balogun to participate in the Americans’ last-16 loss to Belgium.
Balogun found himself the lightning rod in a storm of debate as a result, and on Tuesday morning human rights group FairSquare submitted a complaint to the International Olympic Committee alleging FIFA president Gianni Infantino breached rules on political neutrality in his dealings with President Trump, who admitted he personally intervened on behalf of Balogun and the US co-hosts.
Balogun told CBS: “My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my team-mates a bit of nerves, because it’s something that is so unique.
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US President Donald Trump admitted that he asked FIFA to review Folarin Balogun’s suspension for the Round of 16 match against Belgium, following the striker’s red card against Bosnia
“But the closer we got to the game I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise, and that’s hard to avoid.”
The Arsenal academy product still maintains the red card he was issued for a tackle on Tarik Muharemovic was not the correct decision.
He added: “I was in shock. It wasn’t even a tackle. I was totally in shock, I think you could see my reaction, but I just had to accept the decision and just try to be there for my team.
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Sky Sports’ Gail Davis explained how Folarin Balogun’s red card against Bosnia turned into one of the biggest controversies of the World Cup
“When something’s not intentional it should never be a red card, so it was just an unfortunate situation, and I think it put a lot more pressure on us than we needed.”
FairSquare says Infantino – who became an IOC member in 2020 – has repeatedly breached the Olympic Charter and the IOC’s code of ethics, most recently in his handling of the Folarin Balogun affair.
The Times has reported that the disciplinary committee chair Mohammad Al Kamali made the key decision to suspend the ban alone, having never been the sole arbiter in any published previous disciplinary cases.
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Mauricio Pochettino said that the Folarin Balogun controversy, that involved Donald Trump, shouldn’t be used as an excuse for the USA’s elimination from the World Cup
FIFA has offered no explanation of why the ban was suspended.
FairSquare’s complaint alleges five clear breaches of the IOC’s rules on political neutrality, along with ‘prima facie’ evidence of two further serious breaches – including the handling of the Balogun case.
In December, FairSquare made a similar complaint to FIFA’s ethics committee. FairSquare said it had received acknowledgement that its complaint had been received, but has not had any further information.
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Gary Neville called the decision to suspend Folarin Balogun’s red card ‘a stain on FIFA’ after Donald Trump intervened
The Norwegian football federation wrote to the FIFA ethics committee last month requesting it consider FairSquare’s complaint.
Fifty members of the European Parliament wrote to the same committee on June 29 urging it to address FairSquare’s complaint.
The Press Association has contacted the IOC for comment.
FIFA declined to comment when approached by Sky Sports News.
