{"id":2658,"date":"2026-07-05T18:40:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T18:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/?p=2658"},"modified":"2026-07-05T18:40:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T18:40:39","slug":"fifa-clears-balogun-to-face-belgium-after-suspending-world-cup-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/2026\/07\/05\/fifa-clears-balogun-to-face-belgium-after-suspending-world-cup-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA Clears Balogun to Face Belgium After Suspending World Cup Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2659\" src=\"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMeqWNxXIAA44ah-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMeqWNxXIAA44ah-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMeqWNxXIAA44ah-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMeqWNxXIAA44ah-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HMeqWNxXIAA44ah.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><br \/>\nFIFA Clears Balogun to Face Belgium After Suspending World Cup Ban<br \/>\nFIFA has cleared United States striker Folarin Balogun to play in Monday&#8217;s FIFA World Cup Round of 16 clash against Belgium after suspending the one-match ban imposed following his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n<p>Balogun, who opened the scoring in the USA&#8217;s Round of 32 victory, was sent off later in the game, triggering an automatic suspension. However, FIFA&#8217;s Disciplinary Committee reviewed the case and ruled that the implementation of the sanction would be suspended for a one-year probationary period under Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In line with Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,&#8221; FIFA said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The decision means Balogun is eligible to feature against Belgium in Seattle. Under the ruling, the suspended sanction will only be enforced if the forward commits a similar disciplinary offence during the one-year probationary period.<\/p>\n<p>The United States Soccer Federation welcomed the decision, saying it was pleased Balogun would be available for the knockout encounter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our full attention is focused on the Round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle, and we look forward to the continued support of our amazing fans,&#8221; the federation said.<\/p>\n<p>The red card had sparked controversy after Video Assistant Referee officials advised Brazilian referee Raphael Claus to review the incident on the pitch side monitor before issuing the dismissal.<\/p>\n<p>Reports also indicated that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had called for the red card to be rescinded.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. President Donald Trump praised FIFA&#8217;s decision, writing on his Truth Social platform<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!&#8221; He Wrote<\/p>\n<p>Balogun has scored three goals for the United States at the tournament and is expected to play a key role as the Americans seek a place in the World Cup quarter-finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; FIFA Clears Balogun to Face Belgium After Suspending World Cup Ban FIFA has cleared United States striker Folarin Balogun to play in Monday&#8217;s FIFA World Cup Round of 16 clash against Belgium after suspending the one-match ban imposed following his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Balogun, who opened the scoring in the USA&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianreporters.com\/NG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}