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The USMNT is out of the 2026 World Cup. The controversy that got them there isn’t going anywhere, though.
European lawmakers are now demanding answers from FIFA President Gianni Infantino over his decision to lift Folarin Balogun’s red card suspension — a move that let the striker take the field against Belgium despite an automatic one-match ban. Dozens of officials across the European Parliament are gathering signatures to push for a formal investigation.
At the center of it all: a phone call. Reports surfaced that President Trump reached out directly to Infantino to discuss Balogun’s situation, with other politicians and lawyers reportedly working behind the scenes too.
How FIFA Justified the Decision
FIFA leaned on Article 27 of its Disciplinary Code when announcing the ruling. That’s the provision allowing the organization to “suspend the enforcement of a previously imposed disciplinary sanction.” In plain terms — FIFA gave itself the authority to override its own rulebook, and it used that power here.
Not everyone’s buying it.
Less than a week after the decision, more than 70 European Parliament lawmakers are calling for FIFA’s Ethics Committee to look into Infantino’s involvement — specifically, whether contact with the Trump administration played a role in the outcome.
The push is being led by MEPs Barry Andrews, Lara Wolters, and Niels Fuglsang. Their letter asks national football associations across EU countries to pressure FIFA into launching a formal review.
Their concerns go beyond just Balogun, too. The lawmakers also want to know whether FIFA breached its own political neutrality standards elsewhere — including, notably, when it handed President Trump the FIFA Peace Prize.
“Once again, we’ve seen Infantino and FIFA surrender to the demands of the Trump administration. The beauty of sport is that it is based on impartial and transparent rules. When Infantino allows political pressure to determine who gets to play, this sense of fairness goes out the window,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement.
A Bigger Problem Than One Decision
FairSquare, a campaign group working alongside several of the lawmakers, is planning to file its own complaint — this one with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The group’s founder, Nicholas McGeehan, told The Telegraph that Infantino himself isn’t the whole story.
“Infantino is clearly unfit to govern FIFA and a challenge to his presidency is absolutely necessary,” McGeehan said.
He didn’t stop there.
“But this has to go beyond simply an ouster of Infantino. If the system that propelled Infantino into power in 2016 isn’t seriously reformed, we will not fix these problems.”
As for the match that started all of this? Balogun did start for the USMNT. It didn’t matter. Belgium ran away with a 4-1 Round of 16 win, and the Americans went home regardless of the red card drama that preceded it.
