Trump's role in World Cup red-card ruling for Balogun pushes Norway toward FIFA ethics complaint
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino, left, and President Donald J. Trump talk as they wait to congratulate the Spanish players after the World Cup final football match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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United States' Folarin Balogun (20) walks off the pitch after losing to Belgium in their World Cup round of 16 football match in Seattle, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
GENEVA (AP) — United States President Donald Trump’s role in clearing Folarin Balogun from a mandatory one-game ban at the World Cup is set to provoke a formal complaint to FIFA ethics investigators.
The Norway soccer federation said Thursday its board of directors will consider filing the complaint at its next meeting, likely on August 6.
“We need our leader in FIFA to say that this was an error,” Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness told London daily The Times in an interview published Thursday.
After Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a one-game ban for Balogun’s red-card tackle against Bosnia-Herzegovina was deferred so he could play against Belgium with a quarterfinals place at stake.
Belgium beat the US 4-1 after a chaotic 36 hours at the World Cup.
The Belgium players were seemingly fired up by one of the all-time controversies in tournament history.
Trump called the referee’s red card for Balogun after video review a “horrible” call and took credit for getting FIFA to review what should routinely have been a one-game ban.
“We all know that this verdict was influenced from external forces and did not have the proper process,” Klaveness told The Times of the FIFA ruling that was unprecedented in the past 60 years at World Cups.
“When you bend a rule like this, you’re on a slippery slope that will put the whole game at risk,” said the former Women’s World Cup player for Norway, who is an elected member of European football body UEFA’s executive committee.
Klaveness is a lawyer and judge who has positioned the Norwegian federation as a conscience in world football since her election in 2022.
“It is a worry for the game when you compromise fundamental rules of the game,” she said Thursday about not enforcing Balogun’s ban.
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