{"id":26342,"date":"2026-07-05T18:41:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T18:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/26342\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T18:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T18:41:20","slug":"trump-thanks-fifa-as-it-suspends-baloguns-ban-for-belgium-world-cup-match-world-cup-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/26342\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump thanks FIFA as it suspends Balogun\u2019s ban for Belgium World Cup match | World Cup 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

Balogun was set to miss USA vs Belgium last-16 tie but will now be available as FIFA surprisingly ends his suspension.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Published On 5 Jul 20265 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

In a surprising turnaround, FIFA has suspended the one-match ban on United States striker Folarin Balogun, ensuring his availability for the cohost nation\u2019s World Cup last-16 match against Belgium.<\/p>\n

Balogun stepped on the right ankle of Bosnia and Herzegovina\u2019s Tarik Muharemovic during the Round of 32 match that USA won 2-0. He received a red card, which also ruled him out of USA\u2019s next fixture of the tournament against Belgium, but FIFA announced on Sunday that the in-form forward\u2019s suspension has been suspended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn line with article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,\u201d FIFA said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a \u2060\u2060similar nature and gravity during the probationary \u2060\u2060period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judicial body has the discretion to \u2060\u2060fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary sanction.<\/p>\n

Shortly after FIFA\u2019s announcement, US President Donald Trump thanked\u00a0football\u2019s world governing body in a social media post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!\u201d Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the US football body welcomed FIFA\u2019s decision to allow their leading World Cup goal scorer to take part in the crucial knockout match.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe accept the decision of the Disciplinary \u2060\u2060Committee and are pleased that Folarin Balogun \u2060\u2060is eligible to compete tomorrow,\u201d US Soccer said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old, who has scored three goals in his four matches during the tournament, said on Friday that a yellow card instead of red would have been a fairer penalisation for his action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nowhere else to put your leg. It\u2019s going to be unavoidable,\u201d Balogun told reporters at a USA training session.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019ve seen many different opinions and takes. But, for me personally, I think a yellow card would have been fair. It\u2019s something that\u2019s happened, so we have to move forward and I have to accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Belgium team did not immediately comment on Balogun being available for the game in Seattle on \u200c\u200cMonday.<\/p>\n

Balogun has been instrumental in USA\u2019s progression through the tournament and has received the Player of the Match award twice.<\/p>\n

He needs one more goal to match Bert Patenaude as the USA men\u2019s player with most goals at a single World Cup. Patenaude achieved the feat in the inaugural World Cup in 1930.<\/p>\n

Michelle Akers holds the record for the most goals scored by any USA player at a World Cup. She scored a whopping 10 goals during the inaugural version of the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup in 1991.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Balogun was set to miss USA vs Belgium last-16 tie but will now be available as FIFA surprisingly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,499,144,1857,87,1865,1849,3206],"class_list":["post-26342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-football","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116868840629442512","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}