Tom Morgan, Ben Rumsby and James Ducker
Jürgen Klopp led a furious backlash against Gianni Infantino, who faces calls to resign after FIFA overturned US striker Folarin Balogun’s World Cup suspension.
Infantino, the FIFA president and most powerful figure in football, was engulfed by crisis after Donald Trump admitted lobbying him to overturn Balogun’s dismissal.
The decision meant the striker was allowed to play in the last-16 tie against Belgium on Monday night (Tuesday, AEST) and Balogun was named in the United States’s starting XI, paving the way for the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) to potentially pursue legal action.
The RBFA informed the US Soccer federation before the game that it “contests the eligibility” of Balogun “should the player be listed on the referee’s team sheet” and that this would leave “all further actions open”.
In a press conference in the Oval Office on Monday, the US president said he asked for a “review” of Balogun’s sending-off because he “didn’t think it was a foul”.
FIFA’s scrapping of Balogun’s suspension after Trump’s intervention has provoked the first major rebellion in the game against Infantino.
Klopp, the former Liverpool manager, European governing body UEFA and the federations of Germany and Belgium launched unprecedented attacks on Infantino, who has faced repeated accusations of cosying up to Trump. “This is our sport, not theirs,” said Klopp. “If Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino really sorted this out between themselves, it is madness; it calls everything into question.”
Calls for Infantino to resign then followed from senior British MPs, campaigners and David Bernstein, the former Football Association chairman.
Bernstein, who had been a leading voice in challenging Infantino’s disgraced predecessor Sepp Blatter, said the Balogun situation is “absolutely wrong, awful”.
“It hits at one of the beauties of football – the worldwide application across the world of regulations and rules,” he said as politicians from all British parties moved to condemn Infantino.
FIFA invoked a little-known article in its rules to “suspend” for one year the red card Balogun received in the US’s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in San Francisco on Wednesday.
FIFA’s decision to rescind Balogun’s ban has opened up a can of worms, and England’s Football Association is weighing up whether to challenge Jarell Quansah’s suspension after he was sent off in their 3-2 win over Mexico. France are now also attempting to have Michael Olise’s yellow card in their victory over Paraguay annulled.
Sources close to the talks claim Trump discussed the matter three times with Infantino.
Infantino maintains FIFA’s decision on Balogun was independent, and unrelated to his conversation with the US president.
But Trump had already claimed credit for getting the red card overturned. “I’m the one that got them to do it,” Trump said. “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.”
Trump, who was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize amid gushing praise from Infantino in December, conceded: “I didn’t know what the hell a red card was. When I found out, I said: ‘You gotta be kidding!’”
In justifying his decision to call Infantino, Trump said: “How would you feel if we took [Lionel] Messi, [Cristiano] Ronaldo or Harry Kane out? We have our best players, and they have to have their best, and if we win, or we lose, it’s fair,” he added.
FIFA’s suspension of the ban was triggered under Article 27 of its disciplinary code, which has previously been used to force through competition amendments relating to Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi’s Inter Miami. UEFA said the overturning of the suspension had crossed a “red line”.
‘Infantino should resign immediately’
British politicians lined up to say Infantino had to go.
Clive Betts, a Labour MP who is chair of the all-party parliamentary group for football, said: “The first thing they’ve got to do is explain their decision and if it literally was just a phone call from Trump, then I’m sorry, but I think he has to resign or FIFA has to sack him if he won’t.”
‘I’m the one that got them to do it.’
US president Donald Trump on reversal of Folarin Balogun’s one-game suspension
“Infantino must go,” added Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader. “No matter where it’s held, the World Cup belongs to the fans – not gangsters like Trump.”
Tim Farron, the former Lib Dem leader, said: “Balogun’s red card ‘suspension’ is straight-up tin-pot corruption. Infantino must surely resign for this. Meanwhile, maybe Starmer should pick up the phone and demand Quansah’s red be reversed?”
Gerry Sutcliffe, the former sports minister, said: “This clearly is an appalling situation where politicians and sport executives have ruined the integrity of the game. Infantino should resign immediately, and FIFA should hold an immediate inquiry. President Trump admits contacting Infantino. The USA should not play the player involved for the good of the game.”
Infantino said in response that “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent” and “operate autonomously” of his influence. Of his conversation with Trump, he said: “During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.”
The explanation did not satisfy his critics, however. The Labour peer, Lord Rees, said: “It’s just an embarrassment to the sport. I hope the United States doesn’t want to be associated with it.”
Clive Efford, Labour MP for Eltham and Chislehurst, said: “This is a complete disgrace and brings shame on United States football. It shows that FIFA is still rotten to the core and needs root and branch change, starting with Infantino.”
Noah Law, the Labour MP for St Austell, wrote to Infantino urging him to lift Quansah’s suspension.
Trump, however, insisted that FIFA made a “really brilliant decision” to suspend the red card. “I think the referee’s call was horrible,” he said, before adding that he had asked only for a review. “I didn’t tell them what to do. I can’t tell them what to do.”
Belgium appeal ‘inadmissible’, says FIFA
Balogun remained clear to play against Belgium after an appeal against the decision was dismissed by FIFA. The appeal committee said the Royal Belgian Football Association’s (RBFA) request was “rendered inadmissible” on the grounds that they were not an interested party to the proceedings and, as such, had “no standing to appeal the decision”.
Belgium sources confirmed they would play the game even if Balogun were on the team sheet, but in a statement the RBFA said the situation “leaves all further actions open”. It is possible they could refer the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. US Soccer declined to comment on the threat of a legal challenge from Belgium in the event Balogun is on the team sheet.
Earlier, Rudi Garcia, the Belgium head coach, said he thought it was “April Fool’s Day”. UEFA, meanwhile, denounced “the unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision”.
Blatter, the former FIFA president, also joined the condemnation, posting: “If a US president intervenes with the FIFA president – and a player is suddenly cleared before a World Cup knockout match – the question is unavoidable: Quo vadis [where are you going], FIFA?”
No potential candidate has yet surfaced to challenge Infantino’s re-election next year, but Ashish Prashar, a former adviser to Tony Blair, the Middle East peace envoy, added that the Swiss-Italian “should be suspended immediately.”
Trump’s involvement in the red-card row emerged after he initially thanked FIFA for “reversing a great injustice”. The White House official X account responded to Trump’s post by writing: “USA-USA-USA” next to an image of a bald eagle.
There were further claims on Sunday by Clay Travis, the prominent American political commentator, author and radio host, that Trump, Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, and Andrew Giuliani, the head of the White House World Cup task force, put together a team of external lawyers to challenge the red card.
Travis claimed they specifically challenged the use of slow-motion instant replay in awarding the red card and felt this violated FIFA rules.
Reflecting on the crisis, Jamie Carragher, the former England defender, said the situation was “unbelievable”. Gary Neville, a former England team-mate, added on Sky Sports News that “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life”.
Telegraph, London
From our partners
About the Author
