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Trump Is Trying to Rig the World Cup

FIFA has a long history of corruption, and now soccer’s governing body is again bending to the will of an autocrat.

US President Donald Trump poses for a selfie with Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw on December 5, 2025, in Washington, DC.

In a decision that should affix an asterisk to any US Men’s World Cup victories going forward, FIFA, the ruling body of international soccer, has decided to “suspend” a red card that a game official issued to the USMNT’s best player, Folarin Balogun, in the team’s 2–0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina. This makes Balogun eligible for the round of 16 match tonight against Belgium.

Soon after scoring his team’s opening goal—and nearly hitting in two others—Balogun stepped on the ankle of Bosnian Tarik Muharemović while going for the ball. It appeared inadvertent—no worse than a dozen other collisions that didn’t draw a red card. The call was widely seen as overly harsh, but he did foul. All in all, the referee’s call was nothing too out of the ordinary.

Afterward, Balogun was crushed. In a classy response, he said, “I never want to react out of anger and out of emotion. There’s still lots of people we’re inspiring, little kids, boys and girls who are watching, and we have to show them the correct way to handle things, even when you think it’s unjust.” He kept his calm knowing that this suspension could doom his squad to a loss this evening.

I think the referee made a bad call—yet the call was made. It was upheld by replay review,........

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