Yet again, FIFA, and its chief, Gianni Infantino, have distinguished the game of football by showing what it is all about. Not glorious athletes representing code and country across the globe. Not the sense of well-being that comes with exercise. No: it’s all about corrupt manoeuvrings, opaque decisions, and scandalous meddling. And who better to be at the centre of it than one of America’s most corrupt, self-enriching figures, one President Donald J. Trump?
On July 5, the one-game suspension for American striker Folarin Balogun was vacated in exchange for a one-year probation. Balogun had received a contentious red card in the US match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup round of 32. It was not a decision taken well by the spectators and, in particular, the US President. On July 6, he admitted to reporters that he had contacted Infantino about the red card decision. “That wasn’t a foul,” he explained. “That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two guys running full speed who happened to crash into each other.” The inevitable insinuation followed: that the decision maker on the pitch could not be trusted. “And this referee, who is a little suspect – if you check his past. I don’t want to say that because I don’t like to create controversy, but very suspect.”
With extravagant ignorance, Trump seemed to be confused on the nature of the card system in football. “That’s one thing, to penalize somebody for the game. But how do you penalize them for a game that hasn’t been played yet? That’s very unfair. You can’t do that.” So it seems, at least when viewed by this current White House.
According to Politico, an entire political operation favouring the overturning of the decision commenced with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House FIFA World Cup Task Force executive director Andrew Giuliani. (The latter, being the offspring of Rudy Giuliani, has his own special slant on fairness in this cruel, shabby world.) “That kicked off four days of coordinated lobbying, legal manoeuvring and diplomacy that stretched from the Oval Office to FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich – and underscored how invested Trump’s inner circle had become in the second World Cup hosted on US soil and the fortune of the US men’s national team competing in it.”
The operation involved frantic efforts by US Soccer’s legal team to formally draft and submit an appeal to FIFA, with Giuliani and Lutnick offering the assistance of White House attorneys if needed. Trump, in his call to Infantino, is said to have inquired about the rules around red card decisions and the basis of match suspensions. Infantino, paying close attention, made no promises – or so we are led to believe.
Disturbingly, Giuliani and Scott Goodwin, a hedge-fund manager who has offered to front the fees of the US coach, Mauricio Pochettino, also conducted a libelling campaign among government circles by focusing on the officiating record of Raphael Claus, the Brazilian referee who had made the original decision. This is an administration incapable of accepting the premise that officials can be impartial in discharging their functions.
Things then fell to Emilio García, the pooh-bah responsible for FIFA’s legal affairs. Advice was duly given to Infantino about the circumstances that might permit a successful appeal, an exceedingly rare matter in such circles.
On July 5, FIFA’s 18-member Disciplinary Committee, having conducted its activities unaccountably and in conditions of secrecy, revealed that Balogun’s one-match suspension had been lifted. A terse statement from the world footballing body was cold to details: “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.” It was not revealed whether the final decision was reached by a panel vote.
The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) expressed astonishment at Balogun’s change of fortunes. The association’s attempt to appeal the decision to the FIFA Appeal Committee was met with the brusque dismissal by committee member Salman Al-Ansari, who declared “the RBFA’s case inadmissible”, confirming the decision to permit Balogun to play. In an official statement, the RBFA was most reproachful: “To date, the RBFA has not received any grounds for this decision, nor has it received the information it has been requesting since the start of the procedure id est a copy of the decision and the motivation declaring the player eligible as well as the referee’s report. Which is a breach of FIFA regulations.” The entire process had been tangled in its circuitousness, given that any successful appeal would require the communication of reasons behind the original decision in the first place. The association had merely been “seeking legitimate explanations” only to face an appeal process that had been created by FIFA, one which “immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible.”
In Belgium, there was suitable outrage in political circles. Jacqueline Galant, Walloon sports minister from the French-speaking Reformist Movement, expressed her support for the Royal Belgian FA, insisting that fair play was where true strength lay. The opposition Socialist party expressed its disgust: “Adapting the rules to please Trump, trying to cheat to win – what a deplorable image for FIFA, for the soccer World Cup, and for the United States.” In actual fact, this deplorable image is very much in keeping with FIFA’s conduct and the way it conducts its affairs with political figures. The essence is in the cheating.
Absurdly FIFA, while declining to confirm whether any specific discussions had taken place between its various arms and the White House, insisted that the decision favouring Balogun had been made by an independent disciplinary body. No report on the decision, again a remarkable state of affairs, has been published. A brazen and smug Lutnick went on to post a picture on social media entitled “Trump Card”, featuring the President brandishing a card bearing his name. A decision blighted by corruption, engineered by a corrupt organisation on the urgings of a corrupt, narcissistic president. Grotesque, yet somehow fitting.
