Who is Folarin Balogun? The USA World Cup striker Trump intervened to save - but couldn't play if President's birthright plans were in force

Balogun was at the centre of a huge row after Donald Trump admitted asking Fifa to review the red card he received in the round-of-32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina, which led to the reversal of his one-match suspension.

The US president leapt to the defence of his country’s star striker on Monday as he insisted the red card shown for his challenge on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic “wasn't a foul".

Balogun’s ban has now been lifted following successful lobbying from Mr Trump, who astonishingly admitted to asking Fifa president Gianni Infantino to review the ban.

But while Trump continues to staunchly defend his country's 'best player', sparking worldwide condemnation, the Monaco player would actually not have been allowed to represent the nation if the president’s bid to ban birthright citizenship had been approved by the Supreme Court.

Read more: Trump and FIFA have tarnished a World Cup for the ages, writes James Hanson

Read more: Trump hails FIFA for ‘reversing great injustice’ over Balogun ban in World Cup

What is birthright citizenship and how would a ban affect Balogun?

The US president signed an executive order to ban birthright citizenship on the first day of his second term in January last year as he launched a crackdown on immigration.

It aims to deny citizenship to babies born to illegal and temporary migrants in the US.

A US court initially blocked it and said it went against the 14th amendment of the US constitution, escalating it to the Supreme Court, which also rejected the order in a huge blow to the president last week.

But if it had passed, it would have deprived the US’ World Cup team of its most effective player this tournament

Balogun was born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents and was automatically granted US citizenship under birthright citizenship laws.

His parents lived in London at the time and had taken a trip to New York in the summer of 2001.

Balogun's mother Florence was denied permission to fly home when airline attendants realised she was heavily pregnant.

It meant he was born in Brooklyn, New York on 3 July 2001, and not in London as had been planned.

But the US has not always been his international team of choice.

Why did Balogun decide to play for the US?

Balogun only firmly decided to represent the US around three years ago.

He previously played for both the US and England at Under-18 level because he holds citizenship for both countries as well as being eligible to play for Nigeria, and was a prolific goal scorer for England’s Under-21 in the build-up to 2023 Under-21 European Championship.

It was only when attention grew following a successful season in 2022-2203 that calls for him to switch to the US grew, while his path to England's senior side appeared to be a challenge. 

He then withdrew from England Under-21s camp and held a secret meeting with US Soccer officials, before a string of senior US internationals reportedly encouraged him to make the switch.

Balogun said last month: "When I committed, and throughout the whole cycle, and the whole journey to me being at this point, I've always said the fans gave me so much motivation and showed me so much support.

"For me, the most important thing has always been to be able to repay that. I just want to continue to show the fans I made the right decision."

Which clubs has he played for? 

The 24-year-old rose through the ranks of Arsenal's youth academy and made his debut for the senior team in 2020. He had a spell on loan at Middlesbrough in early 2022, before going out on loan again that summer to French side Reims.

Balogun scored on his debut for the club and had a successful season before returning to Arsenal to prepare for the 2023–24 season. 

But it was not long before he was snatched up by Monaco in August 2023 for a £35million move.

What has been said about Fifa's review of his red card at the World Cup? 

UEFA has expressed “disbelief” at the controversial move, which it said was “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable”.

President Trump explained his FIFA intervention in today in the Oval Office, saying: "He's our best player, or one of our best players, a very vital player. And [the referee] gave him a red card.

"I didn't know what that meant. I didn't think it meant much. Then I started hearing that that means he can't play in the next game, at least in the next game.

"I said, boy, that's a big— you know, if it happened to another player, it would have been unfair."

Speaking to LBC, former Chief Executive of UEFA Lars Christer Olsson agreed that Trump’s move has brought the game into disrepute.

He told Tonight with Andrew Marr: “I think all these political comments and discussions around football and the way FIFA has been treating the US President is not good for football, in my opinion.

"This is a similar thing. About this decision, and it's questioned on, on good grounds, I think. I also think that the Belgium FA is challenging the decision, so we have to see what comes out of it.”

Housing Secretary Steve Reed told Andrew: “I think it's wrong. And the reason is any game needs to be played by rules that apply equally to everybody who is participating in it.

"You cannot have powerful individuals intervening in order to breach rules when they don't suit their team or their players. It really does.

“An awful lot of football fans and way beyond that will be questioning how on earth that can happen.”

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter accused football’s global governing body of overturning the decision as a result of “political phone calls”.