{"id":617,"date":"2026-07-06T23:07:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T23:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=617"},"modified":"2026-07-06T23:07:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T23:07:34","slug":"is-trumps-world-cup-meddling-a-true-scandal-or-standard-fifa-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=617","title":{"rendered":"Is Trump\u2019s World Cup meddling a true scandal, or standard FIFA corruption?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After a tumultuous weekend for World Cup fans, US striker Folarin Balogun will play in the game against Belgium on Monday night. Maybe that doesn\u2019t sound at all surprising, perhaps because you only learned the name Folarin Balogun today, when you heard that President Donald Trump was involved in all of this in some capacity. Maybe you heard there was an unprecedented appeal. Perhaps you know it\u2019s controversial but you don\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n

Read more The people next door<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Good news: You\u2019ve come to the right place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On Sunday, FIFA made the decision to reverse Balogun\u2019s one-game red card suspension, which will allow him to play against Belgium on Monday night \u2014 the US\u2019s most important match of the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That decision raises a slew of questions. Why is this red card such a big deal? What does it mean for the US? Who exactly got the call reversed? And, given FIFA\u2019s long and well-established history of doing bad things, is this just a little bit of corruption or, like, capital \u201cC\u201d corruption?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Here\u2019s what you need to know about the most controversial call of the World Cup so far.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What happened to US striker Folarin Balogun\u2019s red card?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Balogun was given a red card during the US\u2019s round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina on July 1. Balogun and Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovi\u0107 were going after the same ball in the second half (at roughly the 61-minute mark), and Balogun stepped on Muharemovi\u0107\u2018s ankle and the back of his leg during the play. Initially, no transgression was called, but after a brief video review, the referee sent Balogun off in the 64th minute citing a serious foul or dangerous play. Players that get red cards are immediately taken out of the game and are given an automatic one-game suspension.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the time, fans, some sports journalists, and Fox\u2019s on-air commentators criticized the call because it appeared to be \u201cincidental contact\u201d; they believed that the video assistant referee (VAR) slow-motion review made the play look more serious than it was. Though he writhed on the field, seemingly in pain, Muharemovi\u0107 finished the game, which could imply it was not a serious foul or dangerous play.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The unprecedented part of this saga is that on Sunday, FIFA announced that Balogun\u2019s red card was suspended, which means his suspension for the Belgium round of 16 match on Monday night would be reversed and he would be allowed to play. FIFA cited Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) \u2014 a measure that allows the organization to suspend the execution of a disciplinary sanction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to the :<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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1.The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.
2. By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the person sanctioned to a probationary period of one to four years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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ESPN reported that Balogun\u2019s automatic DQ would be suspended for a probationary period of one year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Why is this such a big deal?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A player getting a red card wiped and being allowed to play in their next match is fairly unheard of in soccer, especially on a stage as grand as the World Cup, so this would be a big deal no matter what team was involved. But it\u2019s getting even more attention because of the optics: Balogun is the US\u2019s most threatening goal-scorer, the US appears to be fielding its best men\u2019s team in recent history, and the US is hosting the World Cup this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So, some fans were already suspicious of what was really behind the reversal. Then, in the wake of FIFA\u2019s decision, President Donald Trump thanked FIFA on Truth Social on Sunday, and went on to claim at least partial credit for getting Balogun\u2019s suspension nixed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAll I did was ask for a review. I didn\u2019t say, \u2018you have to do this,\u2019\u201d Trump said during a White House media briefing on Monday. \u201c[A referee] made a call that nobody could believe\u2026he\u2019s our best player, or one of our best players. And he gave him a red card. I didn\u2019t know what that meant. I didn\u2019t think it meant much. Then I started hearing, you can\u2019t play in the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Your Ring camera isn\u2019t stopping crime. But it might be making you paranoid.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After Trump tried to take credit for the reversal \u2014 essentially saying he pulled strings to help the US \u2014 it put the spotlight on FIFA president Gianni Infantino and people began wondering whether or not he took a call from the sitting US president and then changed course. While Infantino asserted FIFA\u2019s independence, he said in a statement on Monday that he did take Trump\u2019s call, and also that he regularly fields calls from all kinds of important people who wield all kinds of influence:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Essentially, after the questionable red card, the US (aka the 2026 World Cup home team) benefited from a slew of extremely rare, unprecedented decisions which will allow its team to play at full strength when it, under normal circumstances, would not be allowed to. These decisions came after its sitting president, one of the most powerful men in the world, bragged about calling the FIFA chief, who not just confirmed the call, but also confirmed that he is regularly on calls with other world leaders and very rich people who, one might assume, aren\u2019t just interested in having innocuous gabs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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FIFA is pretty famously corrupt; how big of a deal is this red card thing?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When talking about FIFA, it\u2019s not really a question of whether soccer\u2019s governing body is or isn\u2019t corrupt, but rather the severity of said corruption.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2015, the US Department of Justice indicted nine FIFA officials for racketeering, conspiracy, and bribery. The DOJ at the time noted that \u201cdefendants also include U.S. and South American sports marketing executives who are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2022, when Qatar hosted the World Cup, FIFA was criticized for widespread human rights and labor violations. Watchdog and advocacy organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International sounded the alarm that the government was taking advantage of and exploiting migrant workers under grueling conditions with little to no pay. FIFA, they say, reaped the benefits of this human cost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Through this lens, a decision about whether or not someone plays their next game is obviously way less serious than reports of slave labor. And given the 2015 indictment, and everything else we know about FIFA at this point, the existence of corruption and favoritism in FIFA\u2019s system isn\u2019t exactly groundbreaking. Balogun also might not even be the most controversial player still in the tournament \u2014 Morocco\u2019s captain and star player Achraf Hakimi has been ordered to stand trial for rape charges. (Hakimi denies any wrongdoing.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One could make the argument that no professional sport is immune from scandal, exploitation, and corruption: We\u2019ve seen gold medal ice dancers with abuse allegations in the Olympics, NBA players allegedly betting on themselves, doping in tennis, and the way the NFL handles domestic abuse. Still, FIFA\u2019s ability to stand out in this crowded field is remarkable, in the bleakest sense of the term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now that Balogun\u2019s red card has been essentially rescinded (at least for this game) and all eyes are on FIFA and the refs, a new can of corrupt worms appears to have been opened. On Monday, a member of the UK Parliament asked for the Balogun treatment be applied to UK player Jarell Quansah. Similarly, France has also asked for the same appeal with star player Michael Olise, who received a yellow card during its match with Paraguay on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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FIFA has not ruled in either of those cases. Though, to be fair, Trump hasn\u2019t said he\u2019s put in any more calls either.<\/p>\n

Read more What\u2019s inside the one bill Trump most desperately wants to become law<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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See More:<\/span><\/p>\n
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  • Sports<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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