The Balogun red card was shown on 1 July, and it should have been the end of it. Instead, it became the story of this World Cup.
Belgium beat the United States 4-1 on Monday, knocked the co-hosts out of their own tournament, and posted two words from their official account. Overturn this.
Behind the jibe sits a governance question that will outlast the competition. A sitting American president telephoned the head of world soccer, and four days later the ban was gone.
What happened
Folarin Balogun, the United States striker and the tournament’s top scorer, was sent off during the 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 July for fouling Tarik Muharemovic. A straight red carries an automatic one-match ban, which would have ruled him out of the round-of-16 tie against Belgium.
On 5 July, FIFA announced the ban had been suspended for a probationary period of one year. It was the first time in modern World Cup history that a red card during the tournament had not resulted in a suspension, and the first such reversal since 1962.
Trump acknowledged asking FIFA to take another look, calling the Balogun red card horrible and saying the suspension would have left a big stain, though he added that he did not demand an outcome and could not tell Infantino what to do. On Truth Social he thanked FIFA for reversing what he called a great injustice.
Infantino confirmed the call, saying he regularly discusses World Cup matters with the US president and receives calls from heads of state worldwide. He told Trump any review is carried out by independent judicial bodies, which he said is how FIFA’s system works and a principle he will always uphold.
Why was the reaction so sharp?
UEFA said the decision to suspend the ban had crossed a red line, and expressed disbelief at what it called an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision. That is unusually direct language between two bodies that normally settle their differences privately.
Sepp Blatter, who ran FIFA from 1998 to 2015, was blunter. Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls, he wrote, but by rules, evidence and independent bodies.
On Tuesday a group of members of the European Parliament launched an initiative calling for an investigation into Infantino’s role, with 35 lawmakers signing so far. They called it a surrender to the demands of the Trump administration, arguing that when political pressure determines who gets to play, the fairness the sport depends on goes out the window.
Infantino awarded Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize in December 2025, and the two men have appeared together repeatedly, including in the Oval Office. Belgium chose not to argue any of this in a press conference. They posted two words on X after the final whistle and let the scoreline carry the rest of the argument.
What Belgium did on the field
Charles De Ketelaere scored twice, the first inside nine minutes. Several Belgian players mimicked Trump’s dance after the fourth goal, which was not subtle and was not meant to be.
Mauricio Pochettino, the United States’ head coach, welcomed the reversal, arguing his team had been punished enough by playing 30 minutes a man down against Bosnia in a decision he considered completely unfair.
It did not help him. Belgium was the better side, and they were angry.
What happens now
Infantino says resigning has not crossed his mind. He has led FIFA for a decade, stands for re-election next year, and enjoys the support of the African, Asian, and South American confederations, which between them control 111 of FIFA’s 211 votes.
That is the real question underneath the jokes. Not whether the Balogun red card deserved to stand, but whether a call from any head of state should reach the room where that decision is made. FIFA insists it did not. Snopes, reviewing the evidence, declined to rule either way because nobody outside the call knows what was said.
The two words posted from Belgium’s account suggest a growing number of people inside the game have stopped waiting to find out.
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