FIFA officials have ruled that Belgium’s appeal of its reversal of U.S. soccer star Folarin Balogun’s one-game suspension is “inadmissible,” meaning that Balogun is now cleared to play in tonight’s crucial World Cup match.
Only hours before tonight’s game, FIFA rejected Belgium’s attempt to keep America’s top-scoring player off the field for the game. Officials ruled that Team Belgium was not a party either to the original suspension, or the reversal of that penalty, and so had no standing to appeal the decisions.
“The FIFA Appeal Committee has rendered a request submitted by the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) as inadmissible,” FIFA said in a statement, according to Reuters.
“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,” the organization explained.
The appeal committee is chaired by American Neil Eggleston, but FIFA said he recused himself from the decision-making in this case.
However, despite the rejection of their appeal, the Belgians claim they are pressing on with their objections and are claiming that FIFA has broken its own rules and procedures over their appeal.
The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) maintains that FIFA broke its own rules by stonewalling its attempt to gain access to the grounds and documents that FIFA employed to vacate the one-game suspension against Balogun.
“To date, the RBFA has still not received any grounds for this decision, nor has it received the information it has been requesting since the start of this procedure,” the Belgian soccer organization said in a statement to the media.
RBFA went on saying, “For an appeal to be admissible, FIFA’s own regulations state that the reasoned decision must first have been communicated to the appellant.”
“While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, FIFA itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible,” they exclaimed.
“All of this occurred while FIFA simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA’s legitimate requests.,” RBFA said.
“Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days, and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole,” the RBFA added.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been accused of allowing Donald Trump to influence FIFA leading to the decision to dump the one-game suspension. But Infantino disputes those claims.
Infantino put out a statement saying that he did not attempt to influence the disciplinary process, even as he admitted that President Donald Trump did reach out to him about the initial red card suspension handed out to Balogun last week.
In his statement, Infantino averred that “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent. They operate autonomously, apply the FIFA Disciplinary Code, and decide cases based on the applicable regulations.”
“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. During our conversation,” he added, “I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump also affirmed that he reached out to Infantino and voiced his annoyance with last week’s suspension.
Speaking from the White House on Monday morning, Trump tore into the call that sent Balogun out of Monday night’s game.
“That wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other,” Trump said.
“These were two great athletes who got tangled and this referee who is a little bit suspect if you check his past,” he added. “He made a call that nobody could believe.”
Indeed, the referee who threw Balogun out of last week’s game is Raphael Claus, a FIFA referee of Brazilian descent who was accused of match fixing in his native country in February 2023.
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