Folarin Balogun red card suspension reversal could lead to Norway complaint to FIFA

The biggest controversy of the 2026 World Cup was clearly the incident involving Folarin Balogun, which could end with Norway presenting a formal complaint to FIFA’s ethics committee over the decision to suspend the ban after the USMNT forward received a straight red card, according to BBC Sport.

The report suggests that the federation is now considering challenging the handling of the case, with president Lise Klaveness expected to seek the backing of the federation’s board before a possible complaint is submitted to FIFA’s ethics committee.

Balogun was initially expected to miss the USMNT’s Round of 16 match, a 4-1 loss to Belgium, after being sent off during the victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, FIFA later suspended the ban after Donald Trump’s intervention, allowing him to play in the next match.

Norway’s reaction to the Balogun decision

BBC Sport also reports that the Norwegian Football Federation has expressed in a statement strong concern over the way FIFA handled the case, arguing that a direct red card should automatically lead to a one-match suspension.

This incident became a major controversy because the decision to suspend the ban was made without a public explanation beyond FIFA’s reference to a rule allowing the enforcement of a disciplinary sanction to be suspended.

The Norwegian federation believes the case raises questions that go beyond Balogun, including the FIFA Peace Prize award handed to Trump when the World Cup draw was held in Washington, D.C.

Belgium’s complaint

Norway was not the main team affected by the suspension of Balogun’s ban, but its federation was one of those to raise concerns over the decision. The main team involved did submit an appeal asking FIFA to reconsider the ruling, but it was deemed inadmissible before the red card was ultimately rescinded.

In response, the Belgian Royal Football Association had issued a statement criticizing the handling of the case: “The RBFA has still not received any grounds for this decision, nor has it received the information it has been requesting since the start of this procedure for a copy of the decision and the motivation declaring the player eligible as well as the referee’s report. Which is a breach of FIFA regulations.”