United States men’s national team striker Folarin Balogun will be available for the team’s match against Belgium on Monday night (5 p.m. ET, Fox).
Balogun was expected to be suspended for the match after receiving a red card in the United States’ win over Bosnia-Herzegovina. The striker was trying to make a play for the ball against defender Tarik Muharemović, but was called for a foul that was reviewed.
Upon review, which when slowed down showed Balogun clearly stepping on the defender’s ankle, he was shown a red card and sent off early in the second half of the match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Advertisement
The red card came automatically accompanied by a one-game suspension, per Article 10.5 of FIFA’s World Cup rules. The Athletic also reported that after the match, multiple FIFA officials said teams were unable to appeal red cards or the resulting suspensions.
Just a few days later, Balogun’s suspension has been … suspended. The reasoning likely lies within Article 27 of FIFA’s code of discipline.
“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.”
FIFA released a statement about the ruling. “By operation of Article 27 FDC, the implementation of the automatic match suspension for USA player Folarin Balogun is suspended for a probationary period of one (1) year.”
U.S. Soccer also released a statement about FIFA’s decision. “We accept the decision of the Disciplinary Committee and are pleased that Folarin Balogun is eligible to compete tomorrow. Our full attention is focused on the Round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle, and we look forward to the continued support of our amazing fans.”
Advertisement
The USSF was reportedly “engaged in the process with the disciplinary committee,” and Balogun was informed of the decision during a team meeting before the team left for training on Sunday.
President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social thanking FIFA for overturning the decision. “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!”
Portugal‘s Cristiano Ronaldo faced a similar situation before this World Cup. He received a red card in his team’s qualifier against the Republic of Ireland and he was initially given a three-match ban for the incident. It was then shortened to the final Portugal qualifier and the same “one-year probationary period.”
