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FIFA Suspends Enforcement of Red-Card Ban on U.S. Forward Folarin Balogun
FIFA suspended the one-game ban on United States forward Folarin Balogun on Sunday, restoring his eligibility for the World Cup round-of-16 match against Belgium. The forward leads the U.S. with three goals in the tournament.
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FIFA suspended the one-game ban on United States forward Folarin Balogun on Sunday, restoring his eligibility for the team's World Cup round-of-16 match against Belgium. The match is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET at Lumen Field in Seattle.
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Balogun leads the United States with three goals in the tournament, including the winner in a 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Brazilian referee Raphael Claus issued a straight red card to Balogun after video review for stepping on an opponent's foot, though no foul was called on the field at the time.
FIFA applied Article 27 of its Disciplinary Code to suspend the sanction and placed Balogun on a one-year probationary period.
U.S. Soccer accepted the disciplinary committee's decision. The team learned of the suspension while traveling to training Sunday morning. Folarin Balogun stated two days earlier that he disagreed with the red-card decision but accepted it and believed a yellow card would have been fair.
President Trump posted on Truth Social that FIFA had reversed a great injustice. Landon Donovan said the decision restored justice and noted that Balogun should never have been sent off, adding that a similar provision had been applied previously to Cristiano Ronaldo. Christian Pulisic said the team was happy to have its leading scorer available.
