BRUSSELS — A growing coalition of European legislators has rallied behind a formal push to launch an official inquiry within the European Parliament into Gianni Infantino, the president of global soccer governing body FIFA, over his role in the controversial reversal of a suspension for United States men’s national team forward Folarin Balogun.
The controversy traces back to a July 1 friendly match between the U.S. and Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Balogun received a straight red card before the U.S. secured a win. Under standard FIFA competition rules, a red card suspension automatically forces a player to sit out his team’s next scheduled match. But just days after the red card was issued, the suspension was lifted ahead of the United States’ next fixture on Monday, following reported direct intervention by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who personally appealed to Infantino to clear Balogun to play.
Three European Parliament members — Barry Andrews, Lara Wolters, and Niels Fuglsang — leading the inquiry effort have issued a scathing joint statement condemning FIFA’s decision, calling it “a disgrace and a perversion of justice” to alter red card suspension rules in the middle of an international match window to accommodate political pressure. “Once again, we’ve seen Infantino and FIFA surrender to the demands of the Trump administration,” the statement added.
As of this week, 35 additional European Parliament members have added their signatures to the letter calling for the inquiry. The legislators are also urging national soccer federations across all European Union member states to pressure FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee to open a broader probe. The investigation would specifically examine whether political pressure from the Trump administration directly influenced the decision to lift Balogun’s suspension, as well as probe other alleged violations of FIFA’s commitment to political neutrality — including the controversial 2021 decision to award Trump the FIFA Peace Prize.
FIFA has pushed back against the allegations, asserting that the decision to lift the suspension was made exclusively by its internal disciplinary committee, with no outside political influence. The legislators, however, reject that explanation, arguing that core principles of fair play depend on consistent, impartial rule application across the sport. “The beauty of sport is that it is based on impartial and transparent rules. When Infantino allows political pressure to determine who gets to play, this sense of fairness goes out the window,” the legislators wrote in their joint statement.