THE Belgian FA has accused Fifa of “deliberately removing” rules following the suspension of Folarin Balogun’s red card ban.
Football’s worldwide governing body announced on Sunday that – given for his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina last week – had been suspended.
The Belgium FA has released another statement about the decision to overturn Folarin Balogun’s red card ban Credit: Getty
Balogun was shown a red card for a challenge on Bosnia defender Tarik Muharemovic last week Credit: AP
As a result, the USA striker is on Monday night.
The decision to overturn the ban has been deemed hugely controversial, with fans and key football figures all criticising Fifa.
In a statement on Sunday, the against the chiefs.
And in a follow-up message, it accused of changing the rulebook.
The latest statement read: “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.
US President Donald Trump publicly thanked Fifa for overturning the decision Credit: EPA
“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.”
to suspend Balogun’s red card ban.
The European football governing body released a damning statement of its own, reading: “Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line.
Fifa chief Gianni Infantino has been heavily criticised Credit: Alamy
“Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition.
“Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not. A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted.
“It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.”
It continued: “When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined.
“Equally, such decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition.
“Football is the most loved sport in the world because it is a beautiful game and is trusted because it is played everywhere with the same laws.
“A tournament is never a pure standalone and, if the tournament in question is the World Cup, it has the power to drive positive or negative consequences on the game as a whole.
“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”
Meanwhile, for overturning the decision.
On Truth Social – a social media site created by his own company – he wrote: “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!”
It has been widely reported that the White House made a direct call to Fifa to ask Gianni Infantino to review the red card.
But Fifa sources insist White House influence could not affect the decision due to the powers contained in Article 27 and the independent nature of the disciplinary panel.
Article 27 of Fifa’s disciplinary code states that “the judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.”
It adds that “the person benefiting from a suspended sanction commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked by the judicial body and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”
The match between the USA and Belgium kicks off at 6pm local time in Seattle on Monday – 1am BST on Tuesday morning.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
I'm dedicated to creating high-quality content that informs, inspires, and delights. If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to get in touch. Happy reading!
