Belgium pushes back as FIFA clears Folarin Balogun to face US in World Cup last 16

Belgium's football authorities want a full account from FIFA after the governing body ruled that United States forward Folarin Balogun may take part in the World Cup even though he was dismissed in his previous fixture.

The Belgians meet the Americans later today, with a place in the quarterfinals at stake.

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said it has still not received either "FIFA's decision or any explanation regarding this matter. In these circumstances, it has no choice but to challenge the player's eligibility for the upcoming match." The federation did not indicate where it plans to contest FIFA's ruling.

US President Donald Trump intervened on behalf of Balogun, the standout US forward whose red-card suspension was set aside in a move that cleared him to face Belgium.

The RBFA said it only became aware of FIFA's action through media coverage and wrote to the organisation asking for the written decision and an outline of the procedure followed.

"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," the federation said. "No information whatsoever was provided by FIFA."

The association stressed that under FIFA's own regulations, a reasoned decision must be communicated to the appellant before any appeal can move forward.

"While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, FIFA itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible," it said. "All of this occurred while FIFA simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA's legitimate requests."

Balogun, who has three goals at this tournament for the US, was sent off for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Tarik Muharemović during a 2-0 round-of-32 win on Wednesday. The dismissal triggered an automatic one-match ban.

FIFA said on Sunday that the suspension would not stand for the round-of-16 fixture — a highly unusual step that brought praise from Trump and fury from Belgium's camp. It was understood to be the first occasion since 1962 that a World Cup red card did not lead to a missed game.

"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 defense of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole," the Belgian federation added.

The decision also drew rebuke from the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union based in Brussels.

Glenn Micallef, the European Union's commissioner for sport, said that decisions "on sporting rules and sporting matters belong to sporting bodies, not politicians."

"Influencing sporting decisions would undermine the autonomy of sport," he wrote in a message on X. "Our focus should instead be on the real governance challenges facing sport, including the weaponization of sport for political purposes."