Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was involved in behind-the-scenes conversations with FIFA to get U.S. striker Folarin Balogun’s red-card ban suspended, according to two people familiar with the matter granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
Lutnick has developed close ties with the leadership of soccer’s governing body. He attended a previously unreported dinner in early June with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro and a small group of roughly half a dozen attendees, according to the two people.
The dinner underscores the unusually close relationship FIFA has cultivated with Trump administration officials beyond President Donald Trump himself. Lutnick, in particular, has developed a personal rapport with Infantino, hosting the FIFA president in his Commerce Department office and sitting beside him at the match between the U.S. and Bosnia and Herzegovina last week where Balogun received the red card.