Belgium has been granted the right to appeal FIFA's decision to suspend Folarin Balogun for one match ahead of tonight's USA-Belgium Round of 16 match. The case will be heard by an independent member of the FIFA appeals committee.
Belgium has been granted the right to appeal against FIFA’s decision to suspend the one-game ban handed to USMNT star Folarin Balogun, less than 24 hours before the team’s round of 16 match vs. the United States, per The Athletic.
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 6, 2026
The Belgian federation said it was “astonished”… pic.twitter.com/z4nQqzLqvp
Folarin Balogun, the USA's star player, received a highly controversial red card during last week's win against Bosnia and Herzegovina after stepping on a player's ankle, which means he will be banned from the upcoming game against Belgium. Balogun's ban was then suspended on Sunday after President Trump directed an "elite legal team" to challenge the call.
Sources: President Trump, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, and White House task force head Andrew Giuliani put together a team of elite lawyers — from outside the government — to challenge the Flo Balogun red card. Specifically they challenged the use of slow motion instant…
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 5, 2026
Shortly after, heads of the Belgian Federation formally wrote to FIFA to appeal the decision, saying they were "astonished." Their request was granted, and the USA and Belgium were told to submit their cases to be heard by 8:00 AM ET Monday, ahead of the match later this evening.
UEFA released the following statement, saying that the suspension of the ban "crossed a line" after Belgium was granted an appeal.
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.
It is unclear whether a decision will be made before tonight's match in Seattle, scheduled for 8:00 PM ET.
