FIFA have REJECTED Belgium’s attempts to overturn Folarin Balogun’s World Cup suspension.
The USMNT star will be able to play in Tuesday morning’s last-16 tie after having his ban deferred – and that decision has been upheld.
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Belgium have had their appeal over Folarin Balogun’s red card rejected Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
Belgium had appealed Fifa’s shock announcement that Balogun was cleared to feature despite being sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last-32 clash.
They initially threatened to sue the world football governing body.
And their appeal has now been unsuccessful with Fifa saying in a statement: “The request was rendered inadmissible on the grounds that the RBFA is not a party to the proceedings and, as such, has no standing to appeal the decision.”
Belgium had themselves lashed out at the unprecedented U-urn, writing: “We are astonished by this decision.
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“This decision is in direct contradiction to the provisions of the World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations,
“The automatic nature of such a suspension was also explicitly reaffirmed in World Cup 2026 Circular No16, which was distributed to all participating member associations on 12 May 2026.
“The same rule is reiterated at every Match Coordination Meeting prior to each match and all World Cup 2026 workshop presentations.
“In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the Belgian FA is investigating all potential options.”
Balogun, Mauricio Pochettino’s main No9, has been in red hot form at the tournament.
When he was sent off in the 2-0 win over Bosnia it looked like he would miss the Belgium tie.
But US president Donald Trump spoke with Fifa to try and make USA’s new poster boy available.
The RBFA said: “Following its previous statement, the RBFA wishes to publicly explain the events of the past few hours.
“After learning through media reports of Fifa’s decision to lift the automatic suspension of player Balogun, the 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.
“As its only response, Fifa sent a letter to the RBFA stating that it considered this correspondence to constitute an appeal, that a judge had been appointed, and that the RBFA had only a few hours to complete that appeal.
“No information whatsoever was provided by Fifa.
“For an appeal to be admissible, Fifa’s own regulations state that the reasoned decision must first have been communicated to the appellant.
“While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, Fifa itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible.
“All of this occurred while Fifa simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA’s legitimate requests.
“Furthermore, during the match coordination meeting, Fifa deliberately removed the section concerning the automatic suspension of players from its presentation.
“This topic had nonetheless been part of all such meetings before each of the previous four matches. The RBFA questioned Fifa, both orally and in writing, about the reasons for this change, yet once again received no response.
“To be clear, as of this moment, the RBFA has still not received any decision or any explanation from Fifa regarding this matter.
“It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player’s eligibility for the upcoming match.
“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.”
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