Why Folarin Balogun red card ban was suspended by FIFA before USA vs. Belgium in World Cup

The United States were preparing to contest a tense Round of 16 match against Belgium at the World Cup on Monday without their in-form starting striker Folarin Balogun.

The 23-year-old leads the team with three goals at the 2026 FIFA tournament so far, but his controversial red card in the Round of 32 left him suspended for the ensuing match, with no recourse for U.S. Soccer to appeal against the decision.

Then, the federation received some stunning news the day before the match, as FIFA decided to effectively remove the suspension and allow Balogun to play in the game, with the chance to make USA World Cup history on the line.

The Sporting News explains how this decision came to be and why FIFA was allowed to do this.

COLUMN: FIFA has made a royal mess of the Balogun saga

Folarin Balogun red card and suspension, explained

Balogun was given a straight red card in the 64th minute of the USMNT's Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He was sent off for endangering the safety of an opponent as he came down on the ankle of Bosnia defender Tarik Muharemovic who had reached for the ball a split-second earlier as the two jockeyed for position in a 50/50 challenge.

The decision was highly controversial because the referee had not called anything more than a common foul on the field, but VAR looked at the super slow-motion replay and the still image, both of which looked worse than the actual full-speed live play itself. It brought into question the difference between how a play looks live versus how it appears played back at slow motion.

The red card carried an automatic one-game ban, meaning Balogun was expected to be suspended for the Round of 16.

Why Folarin Balogun is now available for USA vs. Belgium

Balogun can now play against Belgium because FIFA decided to suspend his one-game ban.

FIFA does not have the ability to overturn suspensions at its discretion, but it can suspend a sentence, which is slightly different but leads to a similar outcome. Article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code states that:

"The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.

"If the person benefiting from a suspended sanction commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked by the judicial body and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement."

This means that the punishment is lessened or eliminated but will be reactivated should the individual commit another offense during the stated period. In essence, Balogun got his sentence reduced to probation.

This happened with Cristiano Ronaldo prior to the World Cup. He received a red card in the 61st minute of Portugal's penultimate World Cup qualifier against Republic of Ireland for violent conduct. This would have come with a three-match suspension, but FIFA reduced it to one game, with the other two suspended, which conveniently left him eligible to participate at the World Cup from Portugal's opening match.

FIFA took action on Balogun's suspension, suspending the ban in the same manner, as first reported on July 5 by The Athletic. The governing body later released a statement saying:

"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."

In this statement, it does not give any viable reason for suspending Balogun's ban, nor does it make any inference on the referee's decision to issue him a red card in the first place.

There has been speculation that the overturn was based on an improper application of VAR in the situation. IFAB's VAR protocol and guidelines state:

"The VAR can ‘check’ the footage in normal speed and/or in slow motion but, in general, slow motion replays should only be used for facts, e.g. position of offense/player, point of contact for physical offenses and handball, ball out of play (including goal/no goal); normal speed should be used for the ‘intensity’ of an offense or to decide if it was a handball offense"

In this situation, it could be argued that VAR was improperly applied, since the main basis for the red card came on the slow-motion and still photo of Balogun landing on Muharemovic's ankle.

However, this justification was not confirmed by FIFA, who have yet given no reason for the adjudication.

FIFA claimed that Belgium had filed an appeal, before ruling it inadmissible, but a scathing statement from the Belgian FA claims they never intended to file an appeal, instead simply looking to gather more information.

US president Donald Trump reportedly calls FIFA about Balogun red

First reported by Ben Jacobs of GiveMeSport and Adam Crafton of The Athletic, the White House apparently phoned FIFA to discuss the suspension for Folarin Balogun in the USA vs. Belgium match.

"The White House made a direct call to FIFA to ask Gianni Infantino to review Folarin Balogun's red card," Jacobs posted on social media following FIFA's decision to suspend Balogun's ban.

"FIFA sources insist White House influence could not affect the decision due to the powers contained in Article 27 and the independent nature of the disciplinary panel," Jacobs continued.

Trump also posted on his own platform, Truth Social, that he was pleased with the decision. "Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing this great injustice!" Trump said.

On Monday, Trump told reporters he asked Infantino to review the red card, which he called a "horrible" decision by the referee.

"I saw the play, and I'm a person that loves sports ... that wasn't a foul," Trump said. "That wasn't even an infraction ... this referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his past. He made a call that nobody could believe ... he's our best player, or one of our best players. And he gave him a red card. I didn't know what that meant.

"I asked for a review," Trump said, later adding, "I didn't tell him what to do, I can't tell him what to do."

WATCH: President Trump speaks out about his call with the head of FIFA regarding Flo Balogun’s red card. pic.twitter.com/3G6LoMNBpv

Why FIFA's Folarin Balogun decision is controversial

Even as it benefits the co-hosts United States, the decision to suspend Balogun's ban feels off.

Instead of allowing federations to appeal against decisions they believe are inconsistent or incorrect, and allowing an independent regulatory body to adjudicate the result — the process many competitions use to negate impactful but incorrect referee decisions — FIFA has taken this entire process in-house.

Add in Ronaldo's suspended sentence and Gianni Infantino admitting he "suffered with" Argentina against Cape Verde, and this decision can leave fans and rival teams feeling as though there could be ulterior motives to the decisions made, as FIFA can suspend any sentence for players with little requirement to explain why. Belgium would presumably prefer a clearer explanation as to why their Round of 16 opponent's best striker is now available to face them even though his red card was not rescinded.

Additionally, reporters have picked through the FIFA regulations and found some potential contradictory clauses that could present the governing body some problems.

Cards are presented on field by the referee, and may not be classified as "disciplinary measures" by the FIFA regulations in the same way that suspensions and other off-field punishments are. Because of this, regulation 9.1 states that "decisions taken by the referee on the field of play are final and may not be reviewed by the FIFA judicial bodies."