The Belgium soccer federation was granted the right to appeal the controversial decision that led FIFA to lift the one-match suspension of United States striker Folarin Balogun. The American player was sent off in the second half of the United States’ victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina for a challenge on a defender, which the referee punished with a red card following a VAR review. FIFA’s disciplinary committee decided to overturn the decision on Sunday and allow Balogun to play against Belgium on Monday.
However, Belgium will have the right to appeal against the controversial decision with submissions due Monday morning, and a ruling possible by game time, though FIFA would not guarantee that would be the case, according to a report from the Athletic.
Rudi Garcia, the manager of the Belgian national team, mentioned during Sunday’s pre-match press conference that “the Belgian federation isn’t just defending itself or the national team. It’s defending football in general, its integrity and its ethics. As far as I recall, I think this is the first time in World Cup history that a decision like this has been made. Anyway, I’m the coach, so I’m going to focus on my team and the match, it doesn’t matter who makes up the USA’s starting lineup. What matters to me is the pitch, my team, winning, and reaching the quarterfinals.”
The President of the United States Donald Trump has also commented on the decision made by FIFA and posted the following message on Truth Social on Sunday: “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” According to The New York Times, Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the round of 32 game to review the decision about Balogun’s suspension. According to multiple reports Trump had reached out to Infantino regarding the red card as the U.S. government lobbied FIFA to have the ruling overturned. FIFA for its part maintains that all decisions are made by the impartial disciplinary committee.
Belgium newest statement
On Monday, the Belgian FA issued another statement, explaining their reasoning and point of view about the events that took place:
After learning through media reports of FIFA’s decision to lift the automatic suspension of player Balogun, the RBFA sent a letter to FIFA requesting a copy of the decision, an explanation of the process that had been followed, and setting out its position regarding the applicable regulations.
As its only response, FIFA sent a letter to the RBFA stating that it considered this correspondence to constitute an appeal, that a judge had been appointed, and that the RBFA had only a few hours to complete that appeal. No information whatsoever was provided by FIFA.
For an appeal to be admissible, FIFA’s own regulations state that the reasoned decision must first have been communicated to the appellant. While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, FIFA itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible.
All of this occurred while FIFA simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA’s legitimate requests.
Furthermore, during the match coordination meeting, FIFA deliberately removed the section concerning the automatic suspension of players from its presentation. This topic had nonetheless been part of all such meetings before each of the previous four matches. The RBFA questioned FIFA, both orally and in writing, about the reasons for this change, yet once again received no response.
To be clear, as of this moment, the RBFA has still not received any decision or any explanation from FIFA regarding this matter. It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player’s eligibility for the upcoming match.
Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole.
UEFA’s strong statement
UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, has also weighed in on the controversy, criticizing FIFA’s handling of the situation:
Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line. Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not. A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted. It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.
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 decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition.
Football is the most loved sport in the world because it is a beautiful game and is trusted because it is played everywhere with the same laws. A tournament is never a pure standalone and, if the tournament in question is the World Cup, it has the power to drive positive or negative consequences on the game as a whole.
We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.
