When Folarin Balogun received a red card in the U.S. men’s national team match against Bosnia and Herzegovina after VAR review, it was immediately controversial.
The contact between Balogun and the Bosnian player was clearly incidental, with both going for the ball, leading to the awkward foot placement. Players, coaches, and analysts all agreed that the red card was harsh at best, and inaccurately given at worst.
Mauricio Pochettino said it was unjust.
Weston McKennie said something similar.
“Obviously the referee made a decision that he made, but I think it’s questionable,” McKennie explained. “I think there’s been many other plays like that throughout the tournament on other players that a card wasn’t given at all. It’s disappointing.”
YES, THE UNITED STATES WAS TREATED UNFAIRLY BY THE CONTROVERSIAL FOLARIN BALOGUN RED CARD DECISION
And a former top-level referee wrote that the entire process was against FIFA’s own rules.
“VAR made their recommendation to the referee based on slow-motion and still replays, which is not aligned with VAR protocols, as these should be used for only point-of-contact purposes in a red card tackle situation,” said Andy Davies, a referee who worked in the Premier League and Championship and was a Select Group referee for over 12 seasons.
On Sunday, FIFA apparently agreed.
News broke that FIFA had overturned Balogun’s red card suspension, allowing him to play against Belgium in Seattle on Monday night, despite there being no process allowing the USMNT or US Soccer to appeal the card. So how did this happen?
An arcane rule, known as Article 27, the “Suspension of Implementation of Disciplinary Measures,” allowed for FIFA to review the automatic red card suspension, and essentially delay it for a year.
“By operation of Article 27 FDC, the implementation of the automatic suspension for USA player Folarin Balogun is suspended for a probationary period of one [1] year,” the soccer governing body said in a statement. Article 27 says that “1. The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure. 2. By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the person sanctioned to a probationary period of one to four years.”
Should Balogun receive another red card however, that “suspension shall be revoked by the judicial body and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”
Presumably, FIFA, encouraged by President Donald Trump and the White House team, used Article 27 in part because of the apparently improper process used by the VAR referee to recommend a review by the on-field ref.
Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik and White House task force leader Andrew Giuliani put together a team of lawyers outside the White House to challenge the use of slow-motion replay to give Balogun the red card, according to OutKick founder and Fox News contributor Clay Travis.
And while European fans, and the Belgian soccer federation, are furious about the overturn, FIFA used this same protocol to allow Cristiano Ronaldo to play for Portugal.
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Ronaldo received a red card against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier in 2025, leading to a three-game suspension. But FIFA used Article 27 to delay his punishment for up to a year. He sat out one pre-tournament match, then chose to defer the final two until after the World Cup.
Regardless, the wrong of Balogun’s red card has been righted. And he’ll make the USMNT that much more dangerous on Monday night against Belgium.
