UEFA says FIFA has “crossed a red line” and has put the “integrity of the game at stake” in allowing USA striker Folarin Balogun to play in their World Cup tie against Belgium on Tuesday.
Balogun, who has scored three times at this World Cup, was sent off after scoring the opener in USA’s last-32 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, when he caught Tarik Muharemovic with his studs in a challenge.
He was handed a one-match ban and was set to miss Tuesday’s knockout game with Belgium.
But FIFA stepped in to make Balogun available for the match.
The White House made a call to FIFA to ask president Gianni Infantino to review the red card, according to a person familiar with the call who spoke anonymously to The Associated Press.
In a statement, UEFA said: “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.
“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.”
The Belgian FA has said it is “astonished” by the decision and will be “investigating all potential options”.
More to follow…
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