{"id":38873,"date":"2026-07-06T12:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T10:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=38873"},"modified":"2026-07-06T12:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T10:08:13","slug":"belgium-coach-slams-fifa-over-balogun-ban-reversal","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/belgium-coach-slams-fifa-over-balogun-ban-reversal\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium coach slams FIFA over Balogun ban reversal"},"content":{"rendered":"
Belgium coach Rudi Garcia has strongly\u00a0criticised International Federation of Association Football’s (FIFA) decision to suspend a one-match ban for United States (US) striker,\u00a0Folarin\u00a0Balogun, saying the unprecedented move was against the spirit of the game.<\/div>\n
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It’s reported that FIFA took the decision\u00a0following\u00a0a call from US President Donald Trump to FIFA President Gianni\u00a0Infantino.<\/div>\n
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US and Belgium fans were also united in shared surprise ahead of Monday’s\u00a0round of 16 match between\u00a0the\u00a0two\u00a0countries in Seattle.<\/div>\n
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In a controversial and unprecedented move, FIFA is allowing\u00a0Balogun\u00a0to play without rescinding the red card.<\/div>\n
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Balogun\u00a0scored his third goal of the World Cup in the 2-0 win over Bosnia, but was shown a red card after a Video Assistant Referee review in the second half for a\u00a0dangerous\u00a0tackle.<\/div>\n
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FIFA\u00a0suspended\u00a0his automatic one match ban with giving an explanation and Belgium coach Rudi Garcia voiced his displeasure.<\/div>\n
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Belgium Coach Rudi Garcia says: “I didn’t realise that, at FIFA headquarters, July 5 was the equivalent of April 1 in Europe. That was news to me. I think we should refer to the comprehensive statement issued by my federation, The Football Association isn’t defending itself, nor is it defending the national team; it’s defending football in general, the integrity and ethics. As far as I can recall, I think this is the first time in the history of the World Cup that such a decision has been made”<\/div>\n
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It’s reported that Trump called Infantino to ask world soccer’s governing body to review the sending-off, according to a source briefed on the call.<\/div>\n
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Trump then took to social media to thank the governing body for reversing what he called, a great injustice.<\/div>\n
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The decision has also left many fans in a state of shock.<\/div>\n
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“Obviously, as a US supporter, I’m quite happy with it, but I definitely understand the other side and how it’s pretty unprecedented. I don’t know. It’s kind of a difficult situation to be in, I think. Obviously happy to have him (US striker Folarin Balogun) back. He’s one of our best players, but I understand the Belgian perspective as well”<\/div>\n
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“So, I think it was an unfair red, and I think a lot of the football insiders have kind of agreed with that. But once you give a red, it’s a red.”<\/div>\n
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Meanwhile, five-time FIFA World Cup champions, Brazil, were knocked out of this year’s tournament by Norway.<\/div>\n
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They missed a penalty in the first half and never recovered from that.<\/div>\n
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Erling Halaand’s brace in the second half was enough to send the Scandanavians to the quarterfinals.<\/div>\n
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Brazil were awarded another penalty deep into stoppage time, which Neymar duly converted as consolation.<\/div>\n
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And Mexico became the second host nation to exit the World Cup when they lost to ten-man England 3-2.<\/div>\n
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A brace from Jude Bellingham gave the three lions the perfect start in Mexico City.<\/div>\n
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But in-form striker Julian Quinones pulled one back for the hosts to give them a glimmer of hope.<\/div>\n
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England were then under pressure after Jarrel Quansah was sent off but were immediately awarded a penalty after Anthony Gordon was fouled in the box.<\/div>\n
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Talisman Harry Kane stepped up to convert the crucial penalty to make it 3-1.<\/div>\n
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The home team were also awarded a penalty which was netted by Raul Jimenez, but by then, the writing was on the wall for Mexico.<\/div>\n
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–SABC–<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21069,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-38873","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Belgium coach Rudi Garcia has strongly\u00a0criticised FIFA","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38875,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38873\/revisions\/38875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}