'I got them to do it': World Cup in chaos after Trump admits successfully lobbying FIFA over US star's red card
Gianni Infantino has released a statement in response to the backlash
The US President has admitted to telling FIFA to review a ban on US striker Folarin Balogun as he hit out at the "suspect" referee who issued the red card.
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Balogun’s one-match suspension after picking up a red card in the last-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday was delayed in a move branded highly controversial.
It came after Trump placed a call to Fifa’s president Gianni Infantino, with the US president saying he asked for the suspension to be reviewed.
In an astonishing admission on Monday, Trump said: "I'm the one that got them to do it".
The US president is said to have called FIFA on several occasions before Balogun’s ban was lifted.
Speaking at the White House, he blasted the referee’s “suspect” decision to give Balogun a red card as he praised FIFA for a "really brilliant decision" to revoke the ban.
"I'm a person that loves sports and was a good athlete and I understand sports really well, really well," he said.
Trump added: "That wasn't a foul... that was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other. Like, you can't take your foot and properly place it on somebody else's foot... these were two great athletes that got tangled up.
Read more: Joe Biden calls Trump a 'loser' and slams White House administration as 'corrupt'
"This referee is a little bit suspect. If you check his past, I don't want to say that because I don't like to create controversy, but very suspect."
He went on to call Balogun "our best player", adding: “How would it be if we took Messi out, he ran into somebody, or Ronaldo, someone, Or Harry Kane- we take him out of the game because he happened to hit somebody a bit hard. It would have stained this incredible championship."
In another shocking admission, Trump said he didn't even "know what the hell a red card was".
"They talk about the red card like it's fine, nobody talks [about] the referee's decision to red card.
"I didn't know what the hell a red card was, when I found out, I said 'you got to be kidding'."
Trump later said he would have claimed the his country’s World Cup game against Belgium was “rigged” if Balogun was not allowed to play and they ended up losing the last 16 tie, just as he had done with his debunked accusation over the 2020 US presidential election.
After confirming he had asked FIFA to review the striker’s one-match ban, the president said if Belgium now wins the game that “they can be very proud”.
He said: “If they would win the game with a player missing, it would have been a different feeling. You can’t do that.
“All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t say ‘you have to do this’.”
In a bizarre contradiction of his earlier claim, Trump added: “I had nothing to do with the decision. What I did have to do is, I said, ‘I think it should be reviewed’, because I watched the play, and he didn’t do anything wrong."
It comes as Belgium was given the right to appeal against FIFA’s decision to suspend Balogun’s one-match ban.
The former Arsenal forward is now free to face Belgium in the last 16 on Monday night, unless an appeal by the Belgian Football Association (RBFA) is successful.
The RBFA said in an update on Monday afternoon: "After learning through media reports of FIFA's decision to lift the automatic suspension of player Balogun, the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) sent a letter to FIFA requesting a copy of the decision, an explanation of the process that had been followed, and setting out its position regarding the applicable regulations.”
The Belgian FA said it has "still not received any decision or explanation from FIFA regarding this matter".
"It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player's eligibility for the upcoming match," it added.
It continued: "Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole."
UEFA has expressed “disbelief” at the controversial move, which it said was “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable”.
Writing for LBC Opinion, James Hanson argues Trump and FIFA have tarnished a World Cup for the ages.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter accused football’s global governing body of overturning the decision as a result of “political phone calls”.
The Belgian FA said on Sunday night it was “astonished” by the decision and is reported to have been granted the right to an appeal by FIFA.
Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia likened the decision to an April Fool’s joke, while his England counterpart Thomas Tuchel said it was a “strange” decision following his side’s 3-2 win over Mexico on Sunday.
Who overturns this decision and when and on what grounds?” the German asked.
“And how far does this go now? It’s just strange for me. We just want to have consistency in the decisions.”
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 also 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.”
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer stepped in to block FIFA's decision to bring kick-off forward in England's thrilling win at the Azteca Stadium due to suspicions the Mexicans were trying to gain an upper hand, it has emerged.
The match was thrown into chaos in the days leading up to it with kick-off being moved from 1am BST to 7pm, before it was then pushed back to its original time.
The outgoing Prime Minister is said to have told FA chiefs that he was opposed to moving the start time because it would give the Three Lions less time to adapt to the stadium's altitude.
Thunderstorms did end up causing an hour delay, but Thomas Tuchel's team progressed to the quarter-finals following the thrilling 3-2 win.
