Donald Trump has revealed that he personally called Gianni Infantino, the head of Fifa, to ask him to review the red card given to United States’ star player Folarin Balogun.
The striker had been given a one-match ban after a hard tackle against Tarik Muharemovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, but the punishment was suspended in time for the US to play their last-16 match against Belgium yesterday.
The US lost the match against Belgium 4-1, but the decision to allow Balogun to play has been widely condemned across the football world.
European footballing organisation UEFA, called it, “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable”, and former Fifa president Sepp Blatter writing on X, “Redcards are not overturned by political phone calls… Football must never become a playground for political power.”
Infantino has insisted the decision was made independently by Fifa’s “independent judicial bodies”.
On today’s Global Story podcast, Tristan Redman is joined by New Yorker staff writer Sam Knight, to explain the scandal, and how Infantino’s governance of Fifa has brought football and politics closer together.
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Chapters:
00:00 Why was Balogun’s red card overturned?
02:00 Who is Gianni Infantino?
03:30 What influence has Infantino had on Fifa?
06:30 How has Infantino’s relationship with Trump impacted football?
08:00 How much control does Infantino have?
09:52 Why was it important for Fifa to have the USA in the World Cup?
12:00 Why has this incident gone global?
13:30 Is there an inherent flaw in sport’s governance?
