{"id":6478,"date":"2026-07-06T12:36:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6478"},"modified":"2026-07-06T12:36:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:36:02","slug":"uefa-says-decision-by-fifa-to-let-u-s-forward-play-at-world-cup-is-incomprehensible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6478","title":{"rendered":"UEFA says decision by FIFA to let U.S. forward play at World Cup is ‘incomprehensible’"},"content":{"rendered":"

GENEVA \u2014 European soccer body UEFA criticized FIFA for an \u201cincomprehensible and unjustifiable decision\u201d to let United States forward<\/a> Folarin Balogun play at the World Cup<\/a> against Belgium on Monday despite a red card in his previous game.<\/p>\n

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UEFA said in a statement FIFA \u201ccrossed a red line\u201d with its decision not to enforce Balogun\u2019s mandatory one-game ban<\/a> , after the world soccer body came under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

FIFA\u2019s ruling Sunday \u2014 to defer Balogun\u2019s ban for one year of probation \u2014 shockingly deviated from soccer\u2019s traditional rule of law and drew stinging criticism globally including from former World Cup stars and coaches at this tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup,\u201d Norway coach St\u00e5le Solbakken said Sunday after his team beat Brazil to reach the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

UEFA, whose member federations include Belgium, insisted: \u201cSometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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,\u201d said the European soccer body, which has often clashed with FIFA President Gianni Infantino during his decade in power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision,\u201d said UEFA, where Infantino was its CEO-like general secretary from 2009 until being elected to lead FIFA in February 2016.<\/p>\n

The Belgian soccer federation was preparing an appeal in Seattle in the early hours of Monday to challenge the Balogun ruling before a FIFA-appointed appeals judge. The round of 16 game against the U.S. is due to kick off at 5 p.m. local time.<\/p>\n

Balogun was sent off directly for planting his cleated foot on the ankle of Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic during a 2-0 win for the U.S. in the round of 32 last Wednesday.<\/p>\n

That kind of challenge has been a routine red card all season in competitions worldwide, and Balogun could have expected a two-game ban for serious foul play.<\/p>\n

Still, similar challenges by star players have gone unpunished at this World Cup \u2014 by Lionel Messi for Argentina against Algeria and Morocco\u2019s Achraf Hakimi vs. Brazil. Bernardo Silva of Portugal got just a yellow card against Congo.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think a yellow card would have been fair,\u201d Balogun later suggested<\/a> .<\/p>\n

This World Cup has been remarkable for FIFA seeming to rewrite the norms of disciplinary action<\/a> even before the tournament began.<\/p>\n

A pattern of pardons<\/a> opened FIFA to suggestions of executive intervention in the statutory independence of its judicial bodies.<\/p>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo was cleared to play in Portugal\u2019s opening World Cup game despite getting a red card for serious foul play in a qualifying game against Ireland last November. He struck an opponent with an elbow.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo served his mandatory ban in Portugal\u2019s final qualifying game but he was reprieved from an expected two-game ban because FIFA introduced the idea of probation. An imposed three-game ban was less meaningful as two games were deferred during a one-year probationary period.<\/p>\n

At the opening game on June 11, South Africa\u2019s Themba Zwane got a red card against Mexico for a similar offense to Ronaldo\u2019s and FIFA imposed a three-game ban<\/a> with no probation. Zwane did not play again at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Three players sent off in their teams\u2019 qualifying games last year were surprisingly told by FIFA in May they could serve their bans in a future competition instead of at the World Cup, which was the long-standing norm.<\/p>\n

Ecuador midfielder Mois\u00e9s Caicedo, Argentina defender Nicol\u00e1s Otamendi and Qatar defender Tarek Salman all had their bans waived for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

This, FIFA said in May, was to ensure teams \u201ccan compete with their strongest possible squads on the biggest stage of men\u2019s international football.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Balogun decision simply took this policy further, though not for other players shown a red card so far who were mandated to miss at least one game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions,\u201d UEFA said, \u201clet alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Carlos Queiroz quits as Ghana coach after the team\u2019s World Cup exit<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See more of AP\u2019s World Cup coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European soccer body UEFA criticized FIFA for an \u201cincomprehensible and unjustifiable decision\u201d to let United States forward Folarin Balogun play at the World Cup against Belgium on Monday despite a red card in his previous game<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nUEFA says decision by FIFA to let U.S. forward play at World Cup is 'incomprehensible' - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UEFA says decision by FIFA to let U.S. forward play at World Cup is 'incomprehensible' - 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