Tag: Folarin Balogun

• Friday, July 17th 2026 - 20:33 UTC

  Balogun says he thought it was “a joke” when FIFA suspended his red card after Trump call

  

  United States forward Folarin Balogun said he thought it was “a joke” when he was told FIFA had suspended the sanction for his red card, allowing him to play in the World Cup round-of-16 match against Belgium. “Two days before the Belgium match they told me I was allowed to play again, and for me it was unreal; at first I thought it was a joke,” the player said during a conversation with basketball star LeBron James at the Fanatics Fest in New York.

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• Tuesday, July 7th 2026 - 07:19 UTC

  US crash out of World Cup as Belgium win 4-1 amid Balogun red-card storm

  

  The United States were eliminated from the 2026 World Cup after losing 4-1 to Belgium in the round of 16, played on Monday night in Seattle. The defeat means all three tournament hosts — the United States, Canada and Mexico — have now gone out.

• Monday, July 6th 2026 - 23:43 UTC

  Trump admits calling FIFA over a red card; the reversal for the US striker sparks an outcry

  

  US President Donald Trump admitted he had called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask that the red card shown to US striker Folarin Balogun be reviewed, after the body reversed the suspension that would have kept him out of the round-of-16 match against Belgium. The decision, unprecedented in more than six decades of World Cups, triggered a wave of criticism and formal protests from the Belgian federation and UEFA.