The reprieve given to Folarin Balogun by FIFA will surely go down in World Cup infamy.
Balogun was sent off in the United States’ 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round-of-32. It was, most observers agreed, a harsh decision.
Yes, the striker – who is the US’s top scorer at the World Cup with three goals – did rake down the back of his opponent’s leg, but it hardly met the threshold for ‘serious foul play’ that FIFA deems a straight red card offence.
But in a virtually unprecedented development, Balogun has now had the one-match ban which would have applied in tomorrow’s round-of-16 clash with Belgium suspended by FIFA’s disciplinary committee.
That came about after Donald Trump reportedly made several personal phone calls to Gianni Infantino, the head of world soccer’s governing body. And it is the application of political pressure by the US president which has outraged fans, rather than the outcome itself.
Among those scandalised by FIFA’s decision to effectively unilaterally veto the decision made by Brazilian referee Raphael Claus is UEFA. European soccer’s governing body made a statement today decrying the move today, saying FIFA has “crossed a red line” with its “incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”
This, however, is just the latest episode of point scoring in an internecine soccer conflict which runs much deeper than a single incident.
FIFA and UEFA fighting for power and revenue in global soccer
Indisputably, the FIFA World Cup is the biggest show on earth, with billions tuning in worldwide and projected revenues of about $13bn in the current cycle.
However, soccer’s ultimate prize is only contested every four years, which limits FIFA’s commercial opportunities. The mission of Infantino, the one he thinks can help write his name in the history books alongside the great FIFA presidents Jules Rimet or Joao Havelange, is to expand his organisation’s horizons.
FIFA’s biggest competitor is UEFA, who govern European international and club football. The Champions League, for instance, made revenue of about $3.5bn last season alone. It is the apex of the club game.
Infantino has expanded the Club World Cup to try and prise some prestige away from the Champions League, causing commercial and scheduling headaches for UEFA as a result.
Historically, the Club World Cup has largely been seen as a glorified exhibition tournament, but FIFA have attempted to make it a major honour by brute force, expanding from a six-team tournament into a 32-team one and organising a prize money pot of $1bn for last summer’s edition in the US.
Infantino and his opposite number at UEFA, Alexander Ceferin, have routinely locked horns as a result.
When FIFA did not lean on the US to bend their visa after Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry to America to officiate at the World Cup, UEFA scored points by appointing him for the Super Cup final in August. And in the build-up to the World Cup, UEFA’s delegation walked out of FIFA’s annual congress because Infantino was late due to prioritising engagements with world leaders.
“No football administrator, no matter the size of his ego, should think we are the stars of the show,” Ceferin said in 2020 in what many interpreted as a thinly-veiled swipe at Infantino, who has been in post with FIFA since 2016.
