He skipped the opening ceremony and didn’t watch a single match, not even the co-hosts who go by the acronym USMNT (United States Men’s National Team).
But he was there when his national team needed him most – to overturn the red card given to USMNT striker Folarin Balogun for a foul on Tarik Muharemovic in their round-of-16 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A rare recurrence allows Balogun to feature in his country’s first quarter-final against Belgium on Tuesday.
When the US team was panicking about management options and blaming the referee, Trump found a solution with a simple tap on his phone. According to the New York Times, Trump called his “friend” and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, who awarded him the peace prize at the draw ceremony last year, and asked if FIFA’s disciplinary committee could review the decision. Trump called Infantino three times, the report said.
The intervention did not end there.
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration recruited lawyers, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Soccer donor and hedge fund manager Scott Goodwin also played a role.
Folarin Balogan of the United States during a training session ahead of their World Cup round of 16 match against Belgium. (AP Photo)
Finally, here on Sunday evening, FIFA announced that the ban on the USMNT’s top-scoring striker with three goals has been lifted by applying Chapter 4 of Article 27 of the Disciplinary Code. The first clause of the article reads: “The judicial body may decide to suspend the implementation of the disciplinary measure in whole or in part.”
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Within minutes, Trump posted on X, “Thank you FIFA for doing the right thing and reversing a great injustice!”
Later, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “Whatever I did, I asked for a review, because I didn’t think it was wrong… I didn’t tell him what to do. I can’t tell him what to do.”
“It should never have resulted in an out. It wasn’t a foul. It wasn’t a violation. These two guys were running at full speed and hit each other,” he said.
According to Trump, “I would feel differently if he punched him in the face, if he did something wrong.”
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This is not the first time that a red card has been revoked in a World Cup.
In 1962, Brazilian legend Garrincha was angrily sent off for a rough tackle after kicking a Chilean player. The lineman failed to appear for a hearing and was released after the game with a warning. But red cards at that time did not have automatic suspensions.
This was not the first time a head of state had participated.
Chilean president Jorge Alessandri and his Brazilian counterpart, Joao Goulart, began negotiating a deal that would see Garrincha, the electric-heeled winger, not miss a game. Peruvian President Manuel Prado Ugarte personally called out the referee, his countryman, for downplaying the incident. But these details were known much later.
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In the modern era, after FIFA’s rules were codified, overturning a one-match ban has become rare. Now, a “shocked” Royal Belgian Football Federation is considering whether to appeal against the overturned ban. Team coach Rudy Garcia said: “I just found out that July 5 is FIFA’s April Fool’s Day.”
President of the United States Donald Trump Folarin Balogun has admitted he intervened to get FIFA to allow him to play in the hosts’ FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match against Belgium. (AP Photo)
European football’s governing body, UEFA, questioned FIFA’s integrity. “Football, like any other sport, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition,” it said.
“Sometimes the rules are open to interpretation. Not in this case. A minimum automatic suspension of one match after a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the application of the decision of the competent body,” UEFA said.
Bans are rarely wiped out entirely, but often reduced. “This is a principle embedded in the rules, which cannot be subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where many other players were in the same situation and were routinely suspended,” it said.
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Meanwhile, the incident has become the talk of the tournament, as well as a source of humor.
After England’s win over Mexico, Trump praised striker Harry Kane on Truth Social, calling him a “great player”. Asked if the England captain would lobby the US president over team-mate Jarel Quansah, who was shown a red card in the game, manager Thomas Tuchel replied: “Maybe, it’s a good start.”
But Tuchel felt the red card on Balogun was harsh in the first place. “I think, first of all, to be very clear, it wasn’t a red card. But the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) got involved, and obviously three people between the VAR and the referee checked it and they thought it was a yellow card, so the decision was made,” he said.
Some of Balogun’s colleagues were surprised by the result. Midfielder Christian Pulisic said: “For me it’s not debatable. It’s fantastic, not only for us because we’re going to have another player available, but for football. I say to open up the possibility of correcting a little bad decision.”
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Balgun himself would be surprised at his fate. Two years ago, he was wondering which country he would represent: Nigeria, where his parents are originally from, the UK, where he grew up — or the US, where his heavily pregnant mother refused to give birth after a flight from New York to the UK. Years later, the world’s most powerful president, increasingly anti-immigrant, bailed him out.
If the USMNT does indeed beat Belgium, the player of the game will be someone who hasn’t appeared in a single match for his country at this World Cup.