Trump says he asked FIFA head to review USMNT red card

Published 9:08 am Monday, July 6, 2026

The United States’ high-stakes World Cup showdown with Belgium is still hours from kickoff, but the two sides are already battling over FIFA’s disciplinary code, a last-minute Belgian appeal and questions about whether the White House improperly helped get the Americans’ leading scorer back on the pitch.

President Donald Trump’s involvement in the process has stirred a soccer world already deeply distrustful of FIFA, fueled concerns about political influence and cast a pall over a match that is supposed to measure the Americans against one of Europe’s established powers.

At an Oval Office event Monday morning, Trump confirmed to reporters that he asked FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review the situation but said he didn’t ask the sport’s governing body to take any specific action.

“I didn’t tell him what to do,” Trump said, warning that it would have been a “stain” on the event if Folarin Balogun, the top American scorer, wasn’t allowed to play.

“All I did – I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump said.

Trump’s involvement has turned the round-of-16 match into a hornet’s nest for FIFA, which is now weighing an 11th-hour appeal that could further complicate Balogun’s status for the game.

In a statement Monday, the Royal Belgian Football Association said it had not received FIFA’s formal decision or any explanation for Balogun’s reinstatement and had “no alternative but to challenge the player’s eligibility” for the match. FIFA has opened an appeals process, the federation stated, and both U.S. Soccer and the Belgian federation were asked to make submissions by 8 a.m. Eastern time Monday, according to a report in The Athletic.

The federation said it first learned of FIFA’s ruling through media reports, then wrote to FIFA seeking the decision, an explanation of the process and clarity on the applicable regulations.

“To be clear, as of this moment, the RBFA has still not received any decision or any explanation from FIFA regarding this matter,” the federation’s statement said.

At issue is the sudden availability of Balogun, the 25-year-old striker who was shown a red card in the 64th minute of the United States’ 2-0 victory over Bosnia in the round of 32 on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California. Balogun was due an automatic suspension and was set to miss Monday’s match until FIFA made the surprising decision Sunday that the automatic one-game ban would be suspended for a one-year probationary period under Article 27 of its disciplinary code.

The decision came days after Trump, speaking directly with Infantino, urged the global soccer governing body to review Balogun’s suspension, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss sensitive matters.

At the Oval Office event, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) smiled as he addressed Trump, appearing to give the president credit for Sunday’s turn of events, saying, “On behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous red card.”

The senator then noted a golden gift from FIFA that Trump has kept near the Resolute Desk for the past year.

“There was a reason the FIFA trophy sat there for all that time,” he said.

Trump’s role transformed what might have been a narrow disciplinary dispute into something larger: a politically charged test of FIFA’s independence, with the Americans’ World Cup path hanging in the balance.

UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, issued an unusually forceful statement Monday, saying FIFA’s decision “crossed a red line” and calling it “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable.”

The statement argued that a minimum one-game suspension after a red card “is not a discretionary option.” UEFA said allowing an exception in the middle of the tournament threatened the integrity and credibility of the World Cup.

“When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined,” UEFA said.

FIFA did not respond to requests for comment or further information about the decision.

On Sunday, Alexi Lalas, the former U.S. defender and lead soccer analyst for Fox Sports, said that the decision had cast the Americans in an even more adversarial light ahead of perhaps the most anticipated men’s soccer the United States has played.

“Any support, affinity, or benefit of doubt from rest of world just got thrown out the window,” Lalas wrote in a social media post.

The backlash was immediate and sharp, with much of it focused less on whether Balogun’s challenge deserved a red card than on how FIFA handled the aftermath.

“I think it’s an absolute disgrace. And Infantino – he should be ashamed of this because I think the sportsmanship of this game is in question here,” Wayne Rooney, the retired English soccer great, said on BBC. “And if I’m one of the opponents – if I’m the USA’s opponent – I’m absolutely fuming here. I just think it’s wrong in every way.”

Balogun’s reprieve quickly became a hot topic around the tournament. Norway Coach Ståle Solbakken, speaking after his team’s victory against Brazil on Sunday, called it a “bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup.”

”Yes, maybe he scores a goal, maybe plays a good game, and Belgium will be furious,” Solbakken said. “I feel also sorry for the United States, because if they win, it will always be that it will hang in the balance.”

The criticism spread well beyond Belgium. Sepp Blatter, the former FIFA president and a longtime critic of Infantino, also weighed in, saying, “Football must never become a playground for political power.”

“Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls,” Blatter wrote in a social media post on Monday. “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?” Blatter wrote, essentially asking where the organization is headed.

Coming from the man who led FIFA for 17 years before being forced from power amid the corruption scandal that shook global soccer, the critique certainly carried its own complicated baggage. But it also underscored how quickly Balogun’s availability had become about something larger than one red card, casting a light on Infantino’s cozy relationship with Trump and the appearance that political pressure had reached into a disciplinary process hours before one of the tournament’s biggest matches.

Infantino and Trump had cultivated each other for nearly a decade, a relationship that began when the World Cup was awarded to North America eight years ago and has progressed to FIFA renting office space in Trump Tower and awarding Trump its inaugural peace prize last year.

“You are part of the FIFA team now,” Infantino said in the Oval Office in 2018, handing Trump a customized jersey to celebrate the future World Cup.

Trump, for his part, has called Infantino a “really good friend of mine,” inviting the soccer leader to various nonsporting events during his second term as president and keeping a model of a World Cup trophy in the Oval Office.

While FIFA’s decision angered foreign fans and leaders, it also has confounded some U.S. soccer fans – a sport that historically has leaned toward Democrats, per polls – who have expressed confusion over whether to be grateful for Trump’s intervention or angry at the perception it has created.

“Just as I am learning the game of soccer, the rules and a few players. Trump ruins it,” Donna Brazile, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee wrote on X. “Terrible decision to involve the White House into this. Just horrible,” she added.

For the Americans, the soccer implications remain straightforward: Belgium is their biggest test, and Balogun is their leading scorer

At stake Monday is a spot in Friday’s quarterfinal in Inglewood, California, a stage the U.S. men have not reached since their memorable run in South Korea and Japan 24 years ago – and one Balogun is now, at least for the moment, eligible to help them chase.

“If they beat us, then they can be really proud,” Trump said of Belgium. “The other way, if they beat us [without Balogun], I’ll say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020, but I won’t get into that.”

Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Thomas Floyd contributed to this report.