Politics

How Trump radicalized the Belgians

Published

2 hours ago

July 10, 2026

BRUSSELS — President Donald Trump’s interference with FIFA’s disciplinary measures ahead of the U.S.-Belgium match had unintended consequences: He fired up the Belgians.

After limping through the group stage and first knockout round, Belgium cleaned the floor with the U.S. in the round of 16, after Trump intervened to help overturn a suspension for America’s key attacker, Folarin Balogun.

The Belgian squad wasted no time in trolling Trump after the match, as a viral clip from the team dressing room showed the players jiving like the U.S. president to his favorite campaign rally anthem: Y.M.C.A. by the Village People.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, a notorious soccerphobe, was then asked about Trump and the suspension saga during a key NATO military summit in Ankara.

“We didn’t speak about football,” De Wever said. “Football is, as they say, the most important of the non-important subjects, but it is still non-important, so I didn’t raise it,” he added, paraphrasing a remark widely attributed to soccer nut Pope John Paul II.

The Belgian national soccer team social media crew was blunter in its victorious post-match summary: “Overturn this,” it noted pointedly.

Politics

For Belgium’s Beltway fans, a rout was the best revenge

Published

3 minutes ago

July 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Belgium’s sports authorities do not appear to have fully moved past the controversy that shrouded their Round of 16 matchup against the United States, but Belgian fans in Washington have.

Folarin Balogun, the American striker whose red-card punishment was suspended by FIFA just before that game, is now barely top of mind.

“I don’t think it had any impact on the game,” Michael McCusker, a Brussels native, said of FIFA’s decision. “Did it give us the extra push? I don’t know. The USA were terrible.”

The White House lobbied hard for Balogun to play against Belgium. And President Donald Trump took all the credit when FIFA lifted his suspension. The Royal Belgian Football Association, in turn, formally challenged the decision. Fans blasted FIFA’s reversal as politically motivated, arguing the organization had bowed to Trump.

But even with Balogun lining up on Monday, the Belgians made mincemeat of the U.S., never trailing in the match. For Belgium’s Beltway fans, winning seems to have taken care of everything.

“I woke up that morning feeling really good,” Margo Vandenbroucke, a Leuven native who works at the International Monetary Fund. “I walked into work that morning and everyone was clapping for me, for Belgium. I think that was the best way of showing that it didn’t matter.”

But if Belgian supporters abroad have moved on, the Balogun scandal is still alive and well in Brussels. In a letter Wednesday, 72 members of the European Parliament called for an investigation into FIFA President Gianni Infantino — and whether his relationship with Trump played a role in the decision to reverse an on-field disciplinary action.