President Trump called Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, in the hours after the United States men’s soccer team played Wednesday and asked him to review the suspension of the team’s top goal scorer in the World Cup, Folarin Balogun, after he was given a red card, according to four people familiar with the conversation.
On Sunday, FIFA reversed the suspension, announcing that Mr. Balogun would be eligible to play Monday against Belgium.
The reversal is highly unusual and is the first time since 1962 that FIFA has allowed a player to appear in a game when they would have been suspended after being sent off in the World Cup. Mr. Infantino has spent years trying to curry favor with Mr. Trump. Last year, FIFA created and gave Mr. Trump the FIFA Peace Prize amid the president’s public, but failed, campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Shortly after Mr. Balogun’s red card, senior Trump administration officials, including Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, and Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House task force on the World Cup, engaged lawyers to help the U.S. Soccer Federation try to appeal, despite FIFA’s rules against such appeals, according to two of the people familiar with the call.
U.S. Soccer officials argued the red card was improperly given to Mr. Balogun because the officials should not have used slow-motion video replay in determining the penalty, the people said. Use of video replays is common practice, and players have frequently been ejected after reviews.
Scott Goodwin, a hedge fund manager and major donor to U.S. Soccer, brought to the attention of Trump officials public accusations that Raphael Claus, the referee, was involved in match fixing in Brazil by giving out irregular red cards. Brazilian authorities and FIFA have found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Claus, but Mr. Trump brought up those allegations in his call with Mr. Infantino, the people familiar with the call said. Mr. Goodwin referred comment to U.S. Soccer. Mr. Claus did not initially call a foul on Mr. Balogun but was asked to review his decision by other officials tasked with monitoring replays. That group hailed from Venezuela, Colombia and France.
On Sunday, Mr. Infantino and Mr. Trump spoke again right after Mr. Balogun was reinstated, and the president told Mr. Infantino that it was the right decision, the people said. Mr. Trump also called Mauricio Pochettino, the U.S. coach, and wished him luck in the game against Belgium on Monday. Mr. Pochettino told reporters at a news conference on Sunday that his team was “not the bad guys.”
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment but confirmed Mr. Balogun’s eligibility after The Athletic reported the planned reversal earlier in the afternoon.
The Belgian federation reacted with fury on Sunday. In a statement it described being “astonished by FIFA’s decision to declare suspended United States player Folarin Balogun eligible to play in the U.S.A.-Belgium match.”
The federation added that it was “investigating all potential options.”
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 White House said the U.S. government had provided information for that process. It declined to provide any additional details of the conversation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Infantino.
Mr. Trump celebrated FIFA’s announcement on social media, though he did not say that he called Mr. Infantino, nor did he take any credit for the decision.
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Mr. Balogun was ejected midway through the second half against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday after tussling with an opponent and after opening the scoring in Santa Clara, Calif., to set the United States on course for victory. As the men went for a ball, Mr. Balogun’s foot came down on his opponent’s ankle, causing it to twist awkwardly. After a video review, he was sent off the field with a red card.
The red card also carried a one-game suspension for Monday’s match against Belgium.
But on Sunday, FIFA said Mr. Balogun could play.
“In line with Article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,” the governing body said in a statement. “If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.” The statement did not explain why he did not receive an automatic ban as other players who have been sent off have received.
A memo created for U.S. Soccer by lawyers who have worked for Mr. Trump, reviewed by The New York Times, outlined how the federation could find possible gaps in rules around red cards to strengthen its case. Effectively, the three-page document suggested FIFA’s regulations on disciplinary action were sufficiently vague to create grounds for an appeal. It even suggested the appeal invoke the rights of the United States as a nation and threaten to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, the sporting world’s top arbitration body.
In its statement, Belgium’s federation said FIFA had acted in direct contravention of its own regulations as well as against what it had briefed to competing teams at a meeting before the World Cup and in a letter sent to federations in May.
The sudden clemency for Mr. Balogun will lead to more questions about the type of relationship Mr. Infantino has developed with Mr. Trump.
The president of Norway’s federation had already joined an ethics complaint against Mr. Infantino that alleges that he breached FIFA’s statutes on political neutrality after awarding Mr. Trump the peace prize. Mr. Infantino has described himself as a friend of the American president and has frequently lavished him with praise and gifts in a way that is unique in FIFA’s 122-year history.
In contrast with its handling of this case, FIFA had received criticism over the treatment of Iran during the tournament. Iranian players were required to stay in Mexico and were limited in the amount of time they could spend in the United States amid continuing tensions between the two countries.
Allowing Mr. Balogun to play benefits the United States, with the striker being the main goal threat as the United States tries to advance to quarterfinals for the first time in 24 years. Privately, some senior soccer officials expressed their incredulity at the handling of the case and openly discussed whether a precedent had now been set so other teams could demand their players be reinstated should they receive similar suspensions.
It is not the first time FIFA has drawn scrutiny for altering rules that appear to favor certain teams or star players. Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the world’s most famous players, was cleared to play at the start of this year’s World Cup when under regular rules he should have missed the first two games because of a red card before the tournament began.
Mr. Balogun’s reprieve resembles a case in 1962 when Brazil’s star attacker Garrincha was allowed to play in that year’s final only after the intervention of the Brazilian government. He had been sent off in a semifinal, and officials including the prime minister, Tancredo Neves, who would later become president, petitioned FIFA to allow him to play.
