{"id":26352,"date":"2026-07-05T18:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T18:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/26352\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T18:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T18:56:14","slug":"why-fifa-allowed-usmnts-folarin-balogun-to-play-vs-belgium-despite-red-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/26352\/","title":{"rendered":"Why FIFA allowed USMNT’s Folarin Balogun to play vs. Belgium despite red card"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. men\u2019s national team and Folarin Balogun can thank Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code as the reason for why the star striker will be available in the Round of 16 match<\/a> against Belgium on Monday.<\/p>\n

Balogun, who was shown a red card in the Round of 32 and suspended one game without an option to appeal in a controversial ruling<\/a>, had that suspension reversed Sunday around 30 hours before arguably their clash with a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals at stake.<\/p>\n

According to Article 27, \u201cthe judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RefereeFolarin Balogun gets shown a red card during the USMNT\u2019s July 1 match. Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Balogun\u2019s probationary period will last one year, according to FIFA, and if he commits something similar during that stretch, \u201cthe suspension shall be revoked by the judicial body and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement,\u201d the article states.<\/p>\n

Every match of the FIFA World Cup will air on either FOX or FOX Sports 1. If you don\u2019t have cable, you can take advantage of a DIRECTV free trial<\/a> to stream it all.<\/p>\n

Prefer to check out the action live and in person? Shop World Cup 2026 tickets on SeatGeek<\/a> and make sure to use promo code NYPOST10 for $10 off purchases over $250 at checkout if you\u2019re a first-time SeatGeek user.<\/p>\n

So that means Balogun will need to operate with caution, with an understanding that the fact he \u2014 and by extension the USMNT \u2014 was saved once doesn\u2019t mean it could happen again.<\/p>\n

Balogun, who gave a USMNT 1-0 lead against Bosnia-Herzegovina, was fighting for a ball with Tarik Muharemovic when his foot made contact with the area around Muharemovic\u2019s ankle.<\/p>\n

But the play appeared to lack intent and appeared similar to other moments \u2014 including one from Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi \u2014 that didn\u2019t draw a red card, prompting plenty of uproar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know when Balo found out,\u201d defender Chris Richards told reporters Sunday. \u201cIf he knew before us, he kept it quiet. I think a lot of us thought it was AI at first, but I think we\u2019re really excited. We found out through social media. \u2026 I thought it was AI and stuff. There\u2019s a lot of people posting a lot of stuff. So, we weren\u2019t sure if it was true or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RefereeFolarin Balogun warms up before the USMNT\u2019s Round of 32 match July 1. Imagn Images<\/p>\n

But it was, with an article buried on page 27 of the disciplinary code injecting new life into the USMNT\u2019s World Cup dreams \u2014 and possibly serving as one of the most critical rulings in U.S. soccer history if they keep winning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. men\u2019s national team and Folarin Balogun can thank Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,5731,3934,1176,4097,6273,1849,3206],"class_list":["post-26352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-fifa","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-us-mens-national-team","tag-us-soccer","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116868899637310058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26352","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=26352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}