UEFA have released a remarkable statement in response to the news that Folarin Balogun’s World Cup ban had been suspended by FIFA.
The USA striker was sent off during his side’s round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California, as he was caught treading on the ankle of Tarik Muharemovic, the Bosnian defender.
He was given his marching orders, and as such, earned himself a one-game ban that would have seen him sit out of the United States’ last-16 encounter with Belgium in Seattle, Washington.
Now, however, the former Arsenal man has had his ban rescinded - or, as FIFA puts it, “suspended” - after ‘Article 27’ was activated.
Belgium, who scraped past Senegal in extra time in their first knockout round, are thought to have taken an appeal to FIFA to challenge the ban’s suspension.
When Balogun’s suspension was lifted, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: "Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice! President DONALD J. TRUMP”.
UEFA have come out in support of Belgium, slamming the decision to allow the striker to play.
“Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line,” the statement read.
“Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not. A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted. It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.
“When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined. Equally, such decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition.
“Football is the most loved sport in the world because it is a beautiful game and is trusted because it is played everywhere with the same laws. A tournament is never a pure standalone and, if the tournament in question is the World Cup, it has the power to drive positive or negative consequences on the game as a whole.
“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”
