President Trump called Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, on Wednesday and asked him to review the suspension of the United States’ top goal scorer, Folarin Balogun, after he was given a red card in the team’s match that night against Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to three people familiar with the conversation.
On Sunday, FIFA announced that Mr. Balogun would be eligible to play Monday against Belgium after his red card ban was suspended.
The reversal is highly unusual and the first time since 1962 that FIFA has allowed a player to appear in a game when they would have been suspended. It also comes as Mr. Infantino has spent years trying to curry favor with Mr. Trump. Last year, FIFA created and gave Mr. Trump the FIFA Peace Prize amid the president’s public, but failed, campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Pascale Van Damme, the president of the Belgian federation, did not reply to a message seeking comment.
The White House referred to Mr. Trump’s post on Truth Social. The president celebrated on his social media platform FIFA’s announcement that it would allow Mr. Balogun to play, though he did not say that he called Mr. Infantino nor did he take any credit for the decision.
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right and reversing a great injustice,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Mr. Balogun was sent off the field in Wednesday match after receiving a red card for committing a foul against a defender for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The red card also carried a one-game suspension for Monday’s match against Belgium. But on Sunday, FIFA said Mr. Balogun could play.
“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,” the governing body said in a statement. “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,” the statement reads.
Allowing Mr. Balogun to play advantages the United States, with the striker being the main goal threat as the U.S. tries to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in 24 years. It is not the first time FIFA has drawn scrutiny for altering rules that appear to favor certain teams or star players. Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the world’s most famous players, was cleared to play at the start of the World Cup when under regular rules he should have missed the first two games because of a red card before the tournament began.
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