Craig Foster blasts FIFA as ’embarrassment’ over Trump’s Balogun ban U-turn

Former Socceroos international Craig Foster has launched a stinging attack on FIFA after the governing body reversed a suspension that would have kept United States striker Folarin Balogun out of his side’s next World Cup match.

Foster described the decision as an “embarrassment” and accused FIFA of compromising its independence, after the ban was overturned following an intervention from the White House.

Red card and White House letter

Balogun was sent off during the United States’ previous World Cup fixture against Bosnia and Herzegovina, a dismissal that would ordinarily have ruled him out of the hosts’ last-16 tie against Belgium.

The Daily Mail reports that Donald Trump’s administration wrote to FIFA urging the organisation to allow Balogun to feature despite the red card, an unprecedented political intervention in a footballing disciplinary matter.

FIFA subsequently overturned the suspension, clearing the forward to take part in the United States’ next knockout fixture — a decision that has sent shockwaves through the sport, according to the Daily Mail.

‘What an embarrassment for football’

Foster, a long-standing pundit and outspoken figure in Australian football, made his feelings clear in a post on Instagram. “What an embarrassment for football,” he wrote, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

His intervention adds a prominent voice from outside the United States to the growing debate over the episode, with many in the game questioning whether FIFA’s disciplinary processes can withstand political pressure from a host nation’s government.

Trump is understood to have taken a keen interest in the tournament being staged on home soil, with the Daily Mail noting his proximity to FIFA president Gianni Infantino throughout proceedings.

Fallout inside the USA camp

The reversal has reportedly caused confusion among players and fury among rival nations, with questions raised over whether the same leniency would have been extended to any other team’s suspended player.

Balogun is now expected to be available for the United States as they continue their World Cup campaign, though the manner of his reprieve looks set to overshadow the remainder of the hosts’ run in the tournament.

Read more: Balogun ban lift sparks chaos in USA camp amid Trump intervention claims