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Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has hit out at Donald Trump following reports that the US President personally intervened to have a red-card suspension lifted for American forward Folarin Balogun ahead of the country’s World Cup round-of-16 clash with Belgium.
Balogun had picked up a one-match ban following his sending off against Bosnia and Herzegovina, a suspension that would have ruled him out of the knockout tie against Belgium; however, FIFA’s surprise decision to suspend the ban, reportedly following a call from Trump to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, has thrown the governing body into controversy just as the World Cup reaches its most decisive stage.
Blatter, who led FIFA from 1998 to 2015 before resigning amid a corruption investigation, did not hold back in a social media post.
He argued that red cards are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies, not political phone calls. He went further, warning that when a head of state can reach a FIFA president and see a suspension lifted on the eve of a knockout match, the question becomes unavoidable.
The backlash has been swift. Online reactions have branded it “The Trump Card,” a reference to the perception that the reversal was less about due process than about presidential pressure. For his part, Trump praised the outcome, calling it the correction of a “great injustice.”
This is not the first time Blatter has taken aim at the current US administration. Earlier this year, he backed a proposed fan boycott of matches played on American soil, citing the conduct of Trump and his government both domestically and abroad.
