Folarin Balogun, the 25-year-old United States striker, received a red card for serious foul play during the Round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina on July 1, 2026, after stepping on the ankle of Tarik Muharemovic [1, 2, 3, 4]. The red card normally carries an automatic one-match suspension [2, 5, 4].
Following US President Donald Trump’s personal lobbying, which involved multiple calls to FIFA President Gianni Infantino from July 3 to July 4, FIFA’s disciplinary committee suspended Balogun’s one-match ban for a one-year probationary period, allowing him to play in the Round of 16 match against Belgium [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 4, 7, 8]. FIFA officially denied that Trump’s calls influenced the committee’s decision [6, 7]. However, reports and the human rights group FairSquare alleged Trump’s intervention was a key factor and breached FIFA’s political neutrality rules [3, 9, 7].
The disciplinary committee chair Mohammad Al Kamali made the unusual sole decision to suspend the ban, an unprecedented case [3]. Before the decision was communicated, the US team had been practicing without Balogun and learned the news on their team bus, prompting intense celebrations [1, 2, 5, 4, 7, 8].
Balogun said he was happy to be back but expected controversy and nerves within the team. He told CBS Mornings, "My initial reaction was that I was happy to be back in the team but when I started to reflect, I knew it was going to start a lot of controversy and I could almost see within my team-mates a bit of nerves because it is something that is so unique" [1]. He also commented, "But the closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could. But it was difficult, a lot of outside noise and that’s hard to avoid" [2].
Balogun and others disputed the red card’s justification, saying it was not intentional and the tackle was unfairly judged [3, 9, 7]. Conversely, the initial judgment deemed the red card warranted for serious foul play [1, 2, 5]. Belgium’s coach expressed anger at FIFA’s decision, questioning the integrity of the sport following Balogun’s reinstatement [5].
US Soccer Federation CEO JT Batson declined to criticize Trump’s involvement, stating, "The president is able to do what the president wants to do. The president is the president of the United States. Obviously we’re incredibly grateful for all the support" [6]. Trump himself said, "All I did was, I asked for a review, because I didn’t think it was a foul. And again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul" [8].
The US lost the Round of 16 match to Belgium 4-1 on July 6, 2026 [1, 2, 5, 4, 8]. Balogun spoke publicly again on July 14 about the controversy and its impact on team morale [1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 9, 7, 8]. On July 16, Batson commented publicly on Trump’s role during a media roundtable [6].
