Trump asked – President Donald Trump said he personally asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review the red card shown to U.S. forward Folarin Balogun. FIFA overturned the suspension, clearing Balogun to play Belgium in the World Cup Round of 16—while Belgium’s federati
By Monday morning at the White House press briefing, the red card that nearly stole a World Cup moment from Folarin Balogun had already been revisited—and Donald Trump insisted he had a hand in it.
Trump said he personally asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review the red card shown to U.S. men’s national team forward Folarin Balogun during Wednesday’s World Cup victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina. The review resulted in the suspension being overturned.
“All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t say, ‘You have to do this,’” Trump told reporters during the Monday morning White House press briefing.
FIFA had announced Sunday that it suspended Balogun’s automatic one-match ban, paving the way for him to play against Belgium in Monday night’s Round of 16 match in Seattle.
Trump, a longtime on-and-off presence in American sports coverage, framed his intervention around what he believed the challenge deserved. He said he didn’t think Balogun’s on-ball challenge warranted a red card.
“I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump said. “I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.”
Before the shift, the stakes were already clear. Balogun opened the scoring in the U.S.’s 2-0 win before being sent off of the pitch in the 64th minute following a VAR review for an aggressive challenge on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic.
Trump said he initially didn’t understand what a red card meant, then decided to intervene after learning it would sideline Balogun—the U.S.’ top goal scorer during the tournament—against Belgium.
“That’s very unfair,” Trump said. “How do you penalize them for a game that hasn’t been played?”
He also connected the dispute to the scale of the tournament in the U.S. market, citing Nielsen ratings for the World Cup broadcasts.
“This isn’t just a success. I actually said. Gianni. we’ve got all these games. each one is turning out to be a Super Bowl. ” Trump said. “It’s not our main sport. to put it mildly. and this has been four times more successful. he told me last night the numbers are four times greater. They think 50 or 60 million people are going to be watching the game tonight.”.
The football fallout, however, didn’t end with FIFA’s reversal. The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) appealed FIFA’s decision to reverse the red card ruling. while UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) said on its website the ruling “crossed a line.” Any appeal would need to be resolved before kickoff Monday night. As of publication time, Belgium has not been successful in its appeal.
Still, the match clock kept moving. Balogun’s path back to the pitch was cleared by FIFA Sunday, after the suspension was lifted, placing him on track to face Belgium on Monday night in Seattle—even as the dispute over whether the reversal should have happened continues to burn in parallel.
Donald Trump FIFA Gianni Infantino Folarin Balogun red card World Cup Bosnia-Herzegovina VAR Tarik Muharemovic Belgium Round of 16 Seattle UEFA RBFA Nielsen ratings