FIFA | Pakistan

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he asked FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review a red-card foul against USA striker Folarin Balogun and that he did not think the foul, called by the “horrible” referee, was fair. “All I did, I asked for a review, because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The unprecedented move has thrust FIFA’s disciplinary process into the global spotlight and prompted an angry response from Belgium, who play the US on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Trump said the incident that got Balogun the red card was simply a case of two athletes colliding and he raised questions about the fairness of the referee who called the foul. “I saw the play,” Trump said. “That wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two guys running whole speed that happened to crash into each other. “These were two great athletes that got tangled up, and this referee, who, is a little bit suspect if you check his past … very susp...

The United States World Cup campaign took an extraordinary turn on Sunday when FIFA made the unprecedented decision to suspend Folarin Balogun’s automatic red-card ban, clearing the striker to face Belgium in Monday’s last-16 clash after US President Donald Trump personally urged FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review the case. The move thrust FIFA’s disciplinary process into the global spotlight, prompted an angry response from Belgium and ensured that one of this tournament’s biggest talking points would centre not on tactics or team selection, but on the relationship between football’s governing body and political power. Within minutes, the decision had ignited one of the tournament’s biggest media storms, dominating sports bulletins and talk shows as pundits, commentators and former players argued over whether FIFA had upheld justice or undermined its own rules. As questions mounted over the circumstances surrounding the decision, FIFA did not respond to multiple Reuters requests for comment about the ...

Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron claimed an unwanted piece of football history on Friday after becoming the first player to be sent off for covering his mouth during an on-field confrontation under new FIFA rules. Former Newcastle player Almiron was given his marching orders in first half stoppage time after covering his mouth while he appeared to direct a comment at Turkiye’s Mert Muldur during the two teams’ World Cup Group D game in Santa Clara, California. Paraguay were leading 1-0 when Almiron was dismissed following a VAR review. FIFA announced in April that players who cover their mouths in confrontations with opponents will be given a red card. The initiative being rolled out at the World Cup is part of a broader effort to combat racism, FIFA has said. The new rule follows controversy earlier this year when Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni was accused of racially abusing Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior during a Champions League game in February. Prestianni denied racially abusing Vinicius but was later ba...

Palestine Football Association reported allegations of discrimination by the IFA to FIFA

US President Donald Trump said he was not attending the draw for the 2026 World Cup to receive a prize, but he got one anyway. Trump, who has campaigned aggressively this year for a Nobel Peace Prize, was given FIFA’s inaugural peace prize for his efforts to promote dialogue and de-escalation in some of the world’s hotspots. Amid TV cameras and flashbulbs from the international press, Trump dominated the scene at Washington’s Kennedy Center on Friday, placing himself squarely at the center of one of the biggest events in the sporting world. The United States, along with Canada and Mexico, will host the soccer tournament next year. The prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, and the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, were there, too, but it was all Trump’s show. “This will be unique, this will be stellar, this will be spectacular,” Gianni Infantino, the gregarious president of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, said at the opening of the ceremony, talking about next year’s games. But he could have been ...

FIFA president urges peace and unity amid growing calls to suspend Israel over the conflict