Belgian officials expressed shock and fury after FIFA announced Sunday that it was lifting a one-game suspension against a star U.S. soccer player before a World Cup game against Belgium.

The decision came after President Donald Trump called FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, and asked the association to review the suspension of Folarin Balogun, the American team’s top goal scorer in the tournament. Balogun received the red card after a tussle with an opponent during the U.S. victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday.

Maxime Prévot, Belgium’s foreign minister and a former soccer referee, said the decision could undermine FIFA’s expressed commitment to fair play.

“This decision clearly raises many questions,” Prévot said in a statement to The New York Times on Monday. “If a phone call really is what explains this incomprehensible decision, it would amount to undermining the most basic rules of soccer and sports.”

The Royal Belgian Football Association said in a statement late Sunday that it was “astonished” by the decision and “investigating all potential options.” On Monday, the federation said it had asked FIFA for more information about the matter but had “not received any decision or any explanation,” and that therefore it would “challenge the player’s eligibility for the upcoming match.”

Rudi Garcia, Belgium’s head coach, said the country’s soccer federation was not “just defending itself or the national team, it’s defending football in general.”

The Belgian team had the right to appeal FIFA’s decision, but there was no guarantee that a ruling would come before kickoff Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

The decision by FIFA, the world soccer governing body, was highly unusual and a boost to the U.S. team before it plays Belgium in a round of 16 game. Infantino has curried favor with Trump, and last year awarded him the first FIFA Peace Prize amid the president’s public, but failed, campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump has done little to assuage concerns that political pressure played a role in Balogun’s sudden change in fortune. Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump confirmed that he had called Infantino to protest the red card and ask for “a review.” The president said he had watched the game and determined, as a sports lover, “that wasn’t a foul, that wasn’t even an infraction.”

Trump tried to downplay his intervention, saying that during his conversation with Infantino he “didn’t tell him what to do.”

“I can’t tell him what to do, and I don’t believe he made the decision,” Trump said. “I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision, because No. 1, it wasn’t a foul, and you want to see a game with your best players.”

The U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Bill White, defended FIFA’s decision in a post on the social platform X on Monday and said, “President Trump would never interfere with the inner workings of FIFA.”

UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, said in a statement that FIFA’s reversal had “crossed a red line,” calling it “an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”

Sepp Blatter, a former FIFA president, said the episode raised serious questions about the organization and Infantino, who has already faced ethics complaints for openly courting Trump.

“Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies,” he posted on X.

A spokesperson for Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, was asked Monday for comment on FIFA’s decision and referred questions to an Instagram post attributed to his cat.

“Red card?” the post says, in Dutch. “I’m going to play anyway!”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Ali Watkins and Jeanna Smialek/Luis Antonio Rojas
c. 2026 The New York Times Company