The United States President Donald Trump has revealed that he lobbied FIFA President Gianni Infantino to set aside the one-match ban of forward Folarin Balogun ahead of the co-hosts’ 2026 FIFA World Cup round of 16 match against Belgium on Tuesday. 

Speaking at the White House on Monday, Mr Trump disclosed that he asked FIFA to review the decision to send the 25-year-old off during the United States’ round-of-32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, calling the red card unfair. 

Mr Trump said, “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. Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man who is highly respected, whose level of respect has gone up tenfold, and he was good before this started, but he really pushed it in this country. 

“I’m the one who got them to bring the World Cup to America. It was not Joe Biden. I got to the Olympics, and I got the World Cup. We gave a little piece to Canada, a little piece to Mexico, but I got that myself.”

Speaking further, Mr Trump labelled Raphael Claus, the referee who gave Balogun a red card, as a suspect, which appeared to be referencing unproven public accusations linking the Brazilian to match-fixing in Brazil. 

“This referee, who is a little bit suspect. If you check his past, I don’t want to say that because I don’t like to create controversy, but very suspect… if you like, I’ll provide you with the past. He made a call that nobody could believe. Even people on the other side, they were saying ‘we got lucky, wow’,” Mr Trump stated. 

“How would you feel if you took (Lionel) Messi, or (Cristiano) Ronaldo or Harry Kane out? You can’t do that. We gotta have our best players, and Belgium’s got a great team, by the way. We gotta have our best, and they gotta have their best. And if we win or we lose, it’s fair,” he added.

Meanwhile, both Brazilian authorities and FIFA have found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr Claus.

A former FIFA president, Joseph Blatter, raised concerns about Mr Trump’s involvement in setting Balogun’s one-match ban aside. 

“Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies. If a U.S. president intervenes with the FIFA president—and a player is suddenly cleared before a World Cup knockout match—the question is unavoidable: Quo vadis, FIFA? Football must never become a playground for political power,” Mr Blatter said.

UEFA, the European football governing body, in a statement on Monday, said, “Football, like any other sport, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case, not. 

“A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted. It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.”