07 July 2026 , 08:52
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Calls are growing for the boss of FIFA Gianni Infantino to resign after he decided to allow striker Folarin Balogun’s automatic one-match ban for getting a red card to be pushed back so he could start against Belgium, after speaking to Donald Trump and other US government officials.
It made little difference as the USA were defeated 4-1 by the European side and knocked out of the cup last night.
UEFA, Europe’s governing body for the sport, yesterday accused FIFA of undermining the integrity of the World Cup.
It has emerged that after both Donald Trump and Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House’s World Cup task force, spoke to Infantino by phone, the automatic one-match suspension was postponed.
Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, politicians and football bodies have been left furious over Trump lobbying Fifa.
Klopp said: ““This is our sport, not theirs.
“If Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino really sorted this out between themselves, it is madness; it calls everything into question.”
Calls for Infantino to resign have followed from senior MPs, campaigners and David Bernstein, the former Football Association chairman.
Bernstein, who had been a leading voice in challenging Infantino’s disgraced predecessor Sepp Blatter, said the Balogun situation was “absolutely wrong, awful”.
“It hits at one of the beauties of football – the worldwide application across the world of regulations and rules,” he said as politicians from all parties moved to condemn Infantino.
World Cup bosses said: “In line with article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year.
“If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino released a statement, claiming he will always "respect those decisions and the autonomy of the bodies that make them". But, he also revealed he took a phone call from Trump about the red card.
He said: "I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues. During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies.
"That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold. Whether we personally like a decision or not is irrelevant. Respect for independent institutions and the rule of law is what protects the integrity of our competitions and the credibility of FIFA at all times."
Trump admitted he did call Infantino to discuss Balogun’s red card.
He said: "It’s one thing to penalise somebody for the game, but how do you penalise them for a game that hasn’t been played yet? It’s very unfair, you can’t do that.
"Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man who is highly respected, whose level of respect has gone up tenfold, and he was good before this started, but he really pushed it in this country. I’m the one who got them to do it [bring the World Cup to America].
"All I did was I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul. Again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that would be different.
"If they wouldn’t allow a top player, maybe among the best players on the team, to play, I think it would have had a big stain, and I related just that feeling. I didn’t tell them what to do. I can’t tell them what to do. I don’t believe he [Infantino] made the decision, I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision because number one it wasn’t a foul, and you want to see a game with your best players.
"How would you feel if you took [Lionel] Messi, or [Cristiano] Ronaldo or Harry Kane out? You can’t do that. We gotta have our best players and Belgium’s got a great team by the way. We gotta have our best, and they gotta have their best. And if we win or we lose, it’s fair."
UEFA said: “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.
“Equally, such a decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition. We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision."
England play Norway in Miami on Saturday at 10pm BST. The FA is considering appealing to FIFA to suspend Jarell Quansah’s ban after the England defender was shown a red card in the 3-2 win against Mexico.
Former Lioness Eni Aluko told LBC’s Iain Dale that the storm over Trump’s influence on FIFA President Gianni Infantino "makes a mockery of the integrity of the game".
She then suggested that the King could call up FIFA and ask for Quansah’s red to be suspended.
Eni told Iain: "Quansah got a red card yesterday. What do we do now? Can we appeal it? Can he come back next game?
"I think there’s even been a Tory MP already suggesting that we should do that. Does the King call up? It’s just ridiculous."
Politics Editor