Overview
- FIFA announced on July 5 that it had suspended Folarin Balogun’s red card after acknowledging a call from President Donald Trump to FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
- Infantino said he receives calls from heads of state and emphasized that FIFA’s disciplinary committee is independent while confirming he had taken action to review the decision.
- UEFA publicly criticized the reversal, saying the move “crossed a red line,” a statement that framed the episode as a governance and integrity concern for European football.
- The U.S. team lost 4-1 to Belgium on July 6 and was eliminated from the World Cup, a result that left critics arguing the intervention did not change the team’s fortunes.
- Guest host Tiffany Haddish used her July 6–7 Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue to mock the president’s FIFA call and the poorly attended Great American State Fair, prompting a terse White House reply from spokesman David Ingle.