FIFA Is So Shamelessly Corrupt, They’ll Change Their Own Rules at Trump’s Command

On one hand, die-hard fans of U.S. soccer and the USMNT squad representing our country at the ongoing FIFA World Cup were no doubt understandably thrilled Sunday morning to hear a very improbable headline: Despite the rules of the organization clearly stating that prized U.S. striker Folarin Balogun would not be available to play Monday after being forced out of the prior match against Bosnia and Herzegovina after receiving a red card, FIFA announced out of the blue that Balogun could take to the field after all. More cringe-inducing, however, is the apparent reason why: The New York Times reports that President Donald Trump personally called FIFA President Gianni Infantino this week and more or less asked him to simply not enforce the organization’s rules, and the groveling Infantino–who prostrated himself before Trump in every way available to him leading up to the tournament–was all too happy to oblige. So, uh … go USA?!? How do we feel about being the beneficiaries of strong-armed favoritism?

Folarin Balogun USMNT shows FIFA referee his Trump card.

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— GwedLid (@gwedlid.bsky.social) 2:45 PM · Jul 5, 2026

Granted, there was a whole hell of a lot of debate that had already been happening since this past Wednesday about the worthiness of the red card that Balogun had received, with many soccer analysts feeling that it had been an unjust or arbitrary penalty in the first place–particularly because star players such as Argentina’s Lionel Messi had avoided receiving a red card despite being caught in an almost identical situation earlier in the tournament, when Messi likewise stepped hard on an opponent’s ankle. Nor is FIFA above bending other rules to make sure money-making star players are on the field: Technically, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo also should have been forced to sit out the first two matches of this World Cup because of a red card he received before the tournament began. But the reversing of Balogun’s red card and one-match suspension is particularly notable because he received that red card in a World Cup match, and FIFA’s own rules say that the decision isn’t even available for review or debate. According to NYT, there hasn’t been a situation like this since at least 1962, when FIFA allowed a player to take the field in the game after getting a red card in a World Cup match. But international soccer’s governing body seemingly didn’t hesitate at all to jettison 62 years of precedent to curry a slight bit of favor from Donald Trump, which feels icky to say the very least.

Nor is this the first instance of FIFA and Gianni Infantino as its figurehead going out of their way to give Trump exactly what he wants, no doubt hoping that having the U.S. President on their good side will lead to a smoother tournament. Infantino has spent years sucking up to Trump, to the point of renting empty, unused Trump Tower space in New York for $40,000 per month as a perfectly legal way of providing direct payments to the President’s company … which Trump of course refused to divest himself of, unlike all previous Presidents. And of course, there was the deeply embarrassing move to have FIFA create its own never-before-awarded “Peace Prize,” specifically to award to Trump, a man who is supremely easy to flatter. In fact, given the eagerness to please, I’m all the more amazed that FIFA somehow forgot to cut Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton into the deal, to the point that he would launch an investigation into FIFA’s ticketing practices in Texas.

Trump was naturally happy to take the win, praising the result on Truth Social without directly taking credit for it, which is more self-restraint than we would expect from a guy who understandably doesn’t really care at this point about the appearance of corruption. The White House clearly wants the USMNT squad to do as well as it possibly can at the World’s Cup, serving as a much more effective and natural call to patriotism than the likes of the parched and empty “Great American State Fair” meant to celebrate the 250th birthday of the nation. The White House has been all too happy to co-opt imagery of Americans cheering for the USMNT and claim that anyone supporting the team is also supporting Donald Trump by proxy.

FIFA, meanwhile, didn’t even bother attempting to offer some kind of rationale for why it would treat Balogun’s red card suspension differently from every other red card suspension earned by a World Cup player in the last 62 years. It offered no actual reason for why the suspension was being reversed, and merely stated that Balogun would be subject to “probation” instead. As the official statement put it: “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. If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”

This is, obviously, a boon for the U.S. men’s soccer team, one that would be pointless for the team to be anything but thankful for. This particular bit of favoritism fell right into their lap, so they might as well run with it. Nor would we truly expect American soccer fans to object–they want their best possible team on the field on Monday as the U.S. faces Belgium, attempting to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in 24 years. If Folarin Balogun proves to be the difference maker, no doubt our influence-peddling President will take himself a victory lap. Ah, the joy of living in a deeply corrupt society, where even rooting for your own nation’s team in the World Cup ends up being fraught with heavy ethical underpinnings that sour the experience.

Oh well. The sentiments “go USA” and “fuck Donald Trump” will simultaneously have to coexist, as they always have.