The infamous ‘suspension’ of a red card handed out to USA’s Nigerian-born striker, Folarin Balogun during the 2026 FIFA World Cup round of 32 recurred in another controversial after effect on Sunday, as it made UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin stay away from the final.
Sports247 gathered that Ceferin sensationally boycotted the World Cup final on Sunday in a symbolic move to show that top shots of European football are still not happy with how FIFA permitted Balogun to play USA’s round of 16 fixture versus Belgium despite being sent off in their previous game against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
UEFA had already joined Belgium’s football assiciation in publicly condemning the move, which arose after US president, Donald Trump put a call through to FIFA boss, Gianni Infantino to complain about the red card, and the European football buff has now taken his anger a step further.
So it turned out to be on Sunday, as the football administrator from Slovenia stayed away from the Mundial’s final, which one of the countries under his banner, Spain, sensationally won with a 1-0 victory in extra-time against 2022 champions, Argentina in New New/York Jersey, USA.
Incidentally, while Ceferin boycotted the World Cup final to symbolise that his diapproval of the global body’s decision has not waned, Infantino also faced scorn from critical fans, as the FIFA buff was met with long boos from the mammoth crowd at MetLife Stadium.
A report by UK’s Sun Sports added, “Relations between the two governing bodies have quickly deteriorated since FIFA scrapped Balogun’s automatic one-match ban. Instead, FIFA suspended the punishment for a year under Article 27 of its disciplinary code.
“The world was quick to slam the move, while UEFA reacted furiously alongside the Belgian Football Association. UEFA branded postponement of the ban ‘unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable,’ and warned that FIFA had ‘crossed a red line.’
“The controversy intensified after the US president revealed he had spoken to Infantino about Balogun’s case before the decision was made. But FIFA insists the disciplinary committee acted independently.”
Sports247 learnt further that Ceferin’s boycott of Sunday’s final came a few days after a human rights organisation, FairSquare formally called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to investigate Infantino’s role in the Balogun controversy.
