Belgium’s soccer federation is not happy. Not even a little bit. After FIFA decided to suspend the one-match ban that should have kept U.S. striker Folarin Balogun out of Monday’s World Cup round of 16 matchup, the Belgians issued a statement calling themselves “astonished” at the decision.
Balogun was sent off in the U.S. win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, and everyone assumed he’d sit out the next game. That’s how red cards work, especially in this World Cup. Except FIFA’s disciplinary committee found a loophole nobody else thought they’d use — Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, which lets a judicial body fully or partially suspend a disciplinary measure.
The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) pointed out that Article 66.4 of the same code says a red card automatically triggers a suspension for the next match. That’s been the rule for every other red card at this tournament. On top of that, they reminded everyone that Article 10.5 of the World Cup’s own competition regulations says the same thing: a player sent off is automatically suspended from the following match. And FIFA reinforced that rule in a circular sent to all participating federations on May 12, in pre-match coordination meetings, and in every workshop presentation before the tournament.
But here’s the thing that really has people raising eyebrows. President Donald Trump publicly praised FIFA for what he called “reversing a great injustice.” Trump has a well-documented friendship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and the timing of his comments — right after FIFA announced the decision — made a lot of people in soccer circles wonder if something weird was going on behind the scenes.
FIFA didn’t exactly follow its own playbook here. There was no official appeals process for Balogun’s red card, which critics pointed out when the ban was first handed down. Then FIFA just bypassed the whole thing using a clause that was never meant for situations like this.
Belgium isn’t just complaining for the sake of complaining. Their statement made it clear they’re “investigating all potential options” to challenge the ruling. That could mean taking this to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or it could mean trying to get some kind of procedural reform out of FIFA before the tournament gets any deeper.
The whole situation feels familiar if you remember what happened with Cristiano Ronaldo during World Cup qualifying. He got a three-game ban, but FIFA suspended the final two games of that ban, making him available from the start of this World Cup. And there’s also the Lionel Messi factor — Messi made a tackle similar to Balogun’s in Argentina’s win over Algeria, but he didn’t get a red card at all. That inconsistency might have pushed FIFA to even things out, at least from their perspective.
Belgium plays the U.S. at 5 p.m. Seattle time on Monday, and Balogun will be on the field. The question now is whether this whole mess will follow FIFA long after the final whistle.
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