European soccer body UEFA criticized FIFA for an “incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision” to let United States forward Folarin Balogun play on the World Cup against Belgium on Monday despite a red card in his previous game.
UEFA said in a press release FIFA “crossed a red line” with its decision to not implement Balogun’s mandatory one-game ban, after the world soccer body got here under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.
FIFA’s ruling Sunday — to defer Balogun’s ban for one yr of probation — shockingly deviated from soccer’s traditional rule of law and drew stinging criticism globally including from former World Cup stars and coaches at this tournament.
“It’s a foul, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that may hurt the World Cup,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said Sunday after his team beat Brazil to achieve the quarterfinals.
UEFA, whose member federations include Belgium, insisted: “Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. On this case not.”
“When the knowledge of rules is not any longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the sport is at stake and the credibility of a contest is undermined,” said the European soccer body, which has often clashed with FIFA President Gianni Infantino during his decade in power.
“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision,” said UEFA, where Infantino was its CEO-like general secretary from 2009 until being elected to steer FIFA in February 2016.
The Belgian soccer federation was preparing an appeal in Seattle within 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 resulting from kick off at 5 p.m. local time.
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. within the round of 32 last Wednesday.
That sort 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.
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Still, similar challenges by star players have gone unpunished at this World Cup — by Lionel Messi for Argentina against Algeria and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi vs. Brazil. Bernardo Silva of Portugal got only a yellow card against Congo.
“I believe a yellow card would have been fair,” Balogun later suggested.
This World Cup has been remarkable for FIFA seeming to rewrite the norms of disciplinary motion even before the tournament began.
A pattern of pardons opened FIFA to suggestions of executive intervention within the statutory independence of its judicial bodies.
Cristiano Ronaldo was cleared to play in Portugal’s 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.
Ronaldo served his mandatory ban in Portugal’s final qualifying game but he was reprieved from an expected two-game ban because FIFA introduced the thought of probation. An imposed three-game ban was less meaningful as two games were deferred during a one-year probationary period.
On the opening game on June 11, South Africa’s Themba Zwane got a red card against Mexico for an identical offense to Ronaldo’s and FIFA imposed a three-game ban with no probation. Zwane didn’t play again on the World Cup.
Three players sent off of their teams’ qualifying games last yr were surprisingly told by FIFA in May they might serve their bans in a future competition as an alternative of on the World Cup, which was the long-standing norm.
Ecuador midfielder Moisés Caicedo, Argentina defender Nicolás Otamendi and Qatar defender Tarek Salman all had their bans waived for the World Cup.
This, FIFA said in May, was to make sure teams “can compete with their strongest possible squads on the largest stage of men’s international football.”
The Balogun decision simply took this policy further, though not for other players shown a red card thus far who were mandated to miss a minimum of one game.
“It’s a principle embedded in regulations, which can’t be made subject to exceptions,” UEFA said, “let alone in the course of a tournament where several other players have been in the identical situation and recurrently served their suspension.”
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