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{"id":25383,"date":"2026-07-06T04:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T04:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/inside-the-white-house-push-to-get-folarin-balogun-back-on-the-field\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T04:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T04:32:17","slug":"inside-the-white-house-push-to-get-folarin-balogun-back-on-the-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/inside-the-white-house-push-to-get-folarin-balogun-back-on-the-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the White House push to get Folarin Balogun back on the field"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The campaign to keep Folarin Balogun on the field for the United States&#8217; World Cup run began just minutes after the team\u2019s leading goal-scorer received a red card that would sideline him for the team\u2019s next match.<\/p>\n<p>Following Wednesday\u2019s victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/06\/08\/andrew-giuliani-world-cup-00391602\" target=\"_blank\"><u>White House FIFA World Cup Task Force executive director Andrew Giuliani<\/u><\/a> alerted President Donald Trump to Balogun\u2019s punishment for a rash tackle \u2014 removal from the Bosnia match and a routine one-match suspension that would keep him out of a must-win encounter against Belgium.Trump and Giuliani had been speaking regularly about the World Cup for months. During the planning stages for the tournament, the president received <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/07\/02\/world-cup-2026\/dhs-world-cup-nerve-center-00985372\" target=\"_blank\"><u>frequent briefings on logistics, security<\/u><\/a> and the U.S. team&#8217;s prospects. Once the competition began in mid-June, those conversations accelerated to multiple times each week.<\/p>\n<p>By Wednesday night, the White House had committed itself to taking action over Balogun\u2019s red card, which some soccer analysts believed to be a harsh punishment for the infraction. Giuliani, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and senior U.S. Soccer Federation officials \u2014 all of whom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/07\/01\/world-cup-2026\/trump-skip-us-match-lutnick-giuliani-00983720\" target=\"_blank\"><u>had watched the Bosnia match in person<\/u><\/a> at Levi\u2019s Stadium near San Francisco \u2014 began activating plans to challenge the referee\u2019s on-field decision to issue a red card. Successful appeals of World Cup red cards are exceedingly rare.<\/p>\n<p>That kicked off four days of coordinated lobbying, legal maneuvering and diplomacy that stretched from the Oval Office to FIFA\u2019s headquarters in Zurich \u2014 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2026\/06\/12\/fifa-trump-world-cup-00957640\" target=\"_blank\"><u>underscored how invested Trump&#8217;s inner circle had become<\/u><\/a> in the second World Cup hosted on U.S. soil and the fortune of the U.S. men&#8217;s national team competing in it. Blue Light News spoke to a half-dozen U.S. government and soccer officials who were either directly involved in or briefed on the week\u2019s events.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, a day before the U.S. was due to face Belgium with Balogun on the bench, FIFA\u2019s Disciplinary Committee announced that it was suspending Balogun\u2019s one-match suspension for a year. Trump thanked FIFA for \u201cdoing what was right and reversing a great injustice.\u201d The Royal Belgian Football Association and European confederation UEFA, of which Belgium is a member, are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/07\/05\/world-cup-2026\/european-soccer-uefa-strike-back-fifa-folarin-balogun-belgium-00987486\" target=\"_blank\"><u>considering taking action against the FIFA ruling<\/u><\/a>, according to a high-ranking UEFA official granted anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Trump placed a call to FIFA President Gianni Infantino. The two men had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/07\/22\/gianni-infantino-profile-world-cup-00462298\" target=\"_blank\"><u>built a friendship over nearly eight years<\/u><\/a>, with Infantino becoming a frequent visitor to the Oval Office during Trump&#8217;s second term. They remained in contact even when events put U.S. government policy in conflict with FIFA\u2019s objectives, according to people familiar with their relationship. That included when the Trump administration launched military strikes against Iran in February, jeopardizing the country\u2019s ability to compete in the World Cup \u2014 a personal history that mattered when Trump dialed Infantino about the Balogun matter.<\/p>\n<p>Trump asked about FIFA\u2019s rules around the red card decision and the grounds for a suspension. Infantino listened carefully but made no promises about the outcome. FIFA declined to confirm any specific discussions but reiterated to Blue Light News that the decision to suspend the one-match ban was made by an independent disciplinary committee.<\/p>\n<p>As U.S. Soccer\u2019s legal team formally prepared and submitted its appeal to FIFA, Giuliani and Lutnick also offered to make White House attorneys available to assist with legal analysis if needed, according to people involved in the discussions.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Giuliani and Scott Goodwin \u2014 a hedge-fund manager who had helped to personally pay the salary of U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino \u2014 zeroed in on the officiating history of referee Raphael Claus, who made the red card call on Wednesday. Articles examining previous controversies involving the Brazilian referee circulated among senior government officials as they evaluated every possible argument that could bolster the appeal, according to sources familiar with the discussions.<\/p>\n<p>The matter quickly rose through FIFA\u2019s legal and disciplinary channels. Emilio Garc\u00eda, who oversees the legal affairs of soccer\u2019s global governing body, became a central figure in advising Infantino on the available procedural options, according to people familiar with the process. Garc\u00eda and other FIFA officials worked to determine whether the circumstances around Balogun\u2019s tackle met the narrow standards that would allow the disciplinary decision to be revisited.By Sunday, the answer had arrived. FIFA announced that Balogun&#8217;s one-match suspension would be suspended, clearing him to play in the United States&#8217; next match. Many, including European soccer officials, argued that the White House\u2019s involvement violated FIFA\u2019s policies about insulating sporting decisions from political influence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 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 FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options,\u201d the Belgian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/07\/05\/world-cup-2026\/belgium-politicians-balogun-red-card-fifa-trump-00987474\" target=\"_blank\"><u>association said in a statement released after the ruling<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>FIFA insists that the decision was an independent one made by its 18-person disciplinary committee, but it would not say whether the decision was decided through a vote. Unlike other decisions made by the committee, FIFA has not published a report on the decision.<\/p>\n<p>Soon afterward, Trump and Infantino spoke again. They are expected to jointly award the World Cup trophy to the tournament\u2019s winning team after the final match, on July 19.<\/p>\n<p><i>Tim R\u00f6hn contributed to this article.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The campaign to keep Folarin Balogun on the field for the United States&#8217; World Cup run began just minutes after the team\u2019s leading goal-scorer received a red card that would sideline him for the team\u2019s next match. Following Wednesday\u2019s victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina, White House FIFA World Cup Task Force executive director Andrew Giuliani [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}