FIFA's decision to suspend Folarin Balogun's red-card ban and clear him for Monday's round-of-16 tie against Belgium has drawn open revolt: the Belgian federation says it is "investigating all potential options," coach Rudi Garcia compared the ruling to an April Fools' joke, and UEFA has accused FIFA of crossing "a red line."
Getting away after a straight red reads like a bad joke. Rudi Garcia's reaction was swift after he heard that Balogun could play against his squad. "I didn't know that at the World Cup, the 5th of July is actually the first of April, it's April Fools'," the Belgium coach told his news conference in Seattle.
His federation was blunter still. The Royal Belgian Football Association said it was "astonished" by a ruling in direct contradiction to the guidelines FIFA itself issued before the tournament. Normally, a straight red card carries an automatic one-match ban. The federation said it is "investigating all potential options", a statement that leaves the door open for a fight at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Garcia declined to go there: "We want to focus on sporting matters." He was clear about what he believes is at stake. "We're not defending the national team or federation," he said. "We are defending football."
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois aimed his frustration at the timing as much as the substance. "Had it been done earlier, we'd have been able to be mentally more prepared perhaps," he said, before pivoting to defiance: "We'll be ready. We'll be on the pitch. They have 11 players, not only Balogun."
UEFA went further than any single federation and said the decision "crossed a red line" and expressed "disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision". This is an extraordinary public attack by one confederation on FIFA in the middle of FIFA's own tournament.
According to multiple news outlets, the ruling that split the football world in two sides landed after Trump telephoned Infantino to ask for a review of the red card. After the FIFA ruling, which allows Balogun to play against Belgium, was made public, the US president celebrated on Truth Social: "Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!" For FIFA's critics, that sequence is scandalous.
There is limited precedent for the mechanism. Last year FIFA commuted two games of Cristiano Ronaldo's three-match ban to a year's probation, keeping him available for Portugal's World Cup opener, but Ronaldo had served a one-match ban. Balogun serves nothing now.
US Soccer said it accepts the decision and is "pleased that Folarin Balogun is eligible to compete" against Belgium. The US players found out on the team bus. "I think a lot of us thought it was AI at first," defender Chris Richards said.
Balogun, the USA's leading scorer at the tournament, now walks straight back into the team that Belgium must beat. Courtois, at least, is treating him as a football problem rather than a legal one: "He is a very fast striker... They have a lot of quality up front."
