Belgium granted right to appeal against FIFA's Folarin Balogun ban decision

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. FIFA reject Belgium request; Balogun still clear to play vs. Belgium

FIFA has ruled a request from the Belgium football federation for an explanation of Folarin Balogun's suspended red card as "inadmissible," meaning it has no grounds to appeal the decision and the United States forward remains cleared to play against Belgium in Monday's World Cup round-of-16 match.
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"The FIFA Appeal Committee has rendered a request submitted by the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) as inadmissible in relation to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee's decision to suspend for one year the match suspension imposed on United States national team player Folarin Balogun following his dismissal for a direct red card during the FIFA World Cup 2026™ match between the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina, played on 1 July 2026 at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium," FIFA said in a statement on Monday.

"The chairperson of the FIFA Appeal Committee, Neil Eggleston (from the United States), was not involved in the decision. The request was rendered inadmissible on the grounds that the RBFA is not a party to the proceedings and, as such, has no standing to appeal the decision."

FIFA's decision to suspend Balogun's one-match ban has been widely criticized and the governing body's rejection of Belgium's request for further information on the ruling has prompted the RBFA to say it will review its options, should Balogun be included on the USMNT's team sheet for Monday's game.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/49287344/fifa-reject-belgium-request-balogun-clear-play-belgium

So the US government was allowed to have lawyers prepare documents to argue the USMNT case, but no-one actually in football was allowed to put the opposing case.

On Wednesday evening, Andrew Giuliani — son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Trump's World Cup liaison — "alerted" the president to Balogun's red card, Politico reported; the same night, "Giuliani, [Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick and U.S. Soccer officials began activating on plans to challenge" the one-match suspension. This involved "submissions" to FIFA from U.S. Soccer lawyers arguing "that the VAR presentation to the on-field referee relied excessively on freeze-frames and slow-motion images" (according to the Athletic), as well as a "three-page document" prepared by White House lawyers suggesting that "FIFA's regulations on disciplinary action were sufficiently vague to create grounds for an appeal" (according to the New York Times).

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/article/us-striker-folarin-balogun-was-supposed-to-be-sidelined-against-belgium--until-trump-intervened-your-complete-guide-to-the-world-cups-biggest-controversy-190651614.html