{"id":36674,"date":"2026-09-07T12:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T12:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/36674\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T12:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T12:14:11","slug":"balogun-red-card-u-turn-prompts-belgium-to-withdraw-support-for-infantino-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/36674\/","title":{"rendered":"Balogun red card U-turn prompts Belgium to withdraw support for Infantino | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belgian football association says it will not back Infantino\u2019s bid for re-election, citing the World Cup controversy.<\/p>\n

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

Published On 7 Sep 20267 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s football federation has withdrawn its support for Gianni Infantino\u2019s bid to run for a fourth term as FIFA president, citing his handling of a controversial red card reversal of USA player Folarin Balogun<\/a> during the 2026 World Cup and his plans to sell stakes in future world championships<\/a> to private investors.<\/p>\n

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) released a statement on Monday, saying it rued Infantino\u2019s lack of transparency in both issues and emphasised that it could not support the FIFA president.<\/p>\n

FIFA confirmed Infantino\u2019s intention<\/a> to stand for re-election on Sunday, saying he had never changed the plans announced earlier this year and that he will throw his name in the hat for the March 2027 vote.<\/p>\n

The 56-year-old has lost support from several national associations and regional confederations since announcing his sell-off plan, which he eventually abandoned<\/a> due to mounting pressure and growing backlash.<\/p>\n

He was also the subject of criticism during the World Cup, when United States President Donald Trump thanked football\u2019s world governing body for reversing USA forward Balogun\u2019s red card before their crucial round of 16 match against Belgium.<\/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 play in the crucial knockout match.<\/p>\n

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

The RBFA challenged FIFA\u2019s decision<\/a>, but its appeal was deemed \u201cinadmissible\u201d by the FIFA Appeal Committee. The Belgian association accused FIFA of a \u201cbreach\u201d of regulations for not providing its justifications.<\/p>\n

In its latest statement, the RBFA said it had \u201cnot yet received any satisfactory response\u201d. It has asked FIFA to place the Balogun case on the agenda for the next FIFA Council meeting on October 15.<\/p>\n

It also highlighted the FIFA Forward Enterprise<\/a>, a new FIFA-owned and controlled subsidiary inviting private investment into the World Cup, as one of the reasons behind its decision to pull out support for Infantino.<\/p>\n

The RBFA said the investment plans raised \u201cquestions regarding the transparency and governance of this process\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is essential that such cases are handled in a transparent and rigorous manner, in the interests of FIFA, good governance and the credibility of international football, with clear safeguards for the future,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

The Belgian federation said it \u200c\u200cwas in close contact with UEFA, European football\u2019s governing body, over both issues and would continue pushing for greater transparency in FIFA decision-making.<\/p>\n

RBFA president Pascale Van Damme confirmed that her team had been in communication with FIFA, but their questions remained unanswered.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the importance of transparency and clarity for all \u200c\u200cparties involved, we request the necessary explanations and, at the same time, wish to explore where improvements to the current processes are possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belgian football association says it will not back Infantino\u2019s bid for re-election, citing the World Cup controversy. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,69,499,1857,1849],"class_list":["post-36674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-sport","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/117229706599034752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36674","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=36674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}