FIFA has dismissed an attempt by the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) to challenge the eligibility of United States striker Folarin Balogun for Monday’s FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match, ruling that the Belgian federation had no legal standing to file an appeal.
The decision follows FIFA’s earlier move to lift Balogun’s red-card suspension, allowing him to feature in the knockout fixture after U.S. President Donald Trump urged FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review the case. Infantino has maintained that he played no role in the final ruling.
In a statement, FIFA said:
“The FIFA Appeal Committee has rendered a request submitted by the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) as inadmissible.”
It added:
“The request was rendered inadmissible on the grounds that the RBFA is not a party to the proceedings and, as such, has no standing to appeal the decision.”
Despite the ruling, the RBFA said it has not received any explanation from FIFA regarding Balogun’s eligibility and has informed the U.S. Soccer Federation that it disputes the striker’s inclusion if he is named on the official team sheet.
“This leaves all further actions open,” the RBFA said.
“To date, the RBFA has still not received any grounds for this decision, nor has it received the information it has been requesting since the start of this procedure.”
The Belgian federation said it had requested a copy of FIFA’s decision, the reasons behind Balogun’s eligibility, and the referee’s report, but those requests remain unanswered.
The RBFA also criticised FIFA’s handling of the matter, claiming its requests for clarification were wrongly treated as a formal appeal.
“For an appeal to be admissible, FIFA’s own regulations state that the reasoned decision must first have been communicated to the appellant,” the RBFA said.
“While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, FIFA itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible.”
“All of this occurred while FIFA simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA’s legitimate requests.”
The Belgian federation further alleged that FIFA removed the section on automatic player suspensions from a pre-match coordination presentation without providing any explanation despite repeated requests.
“Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole,” the RBFA added.
FIFA also clarified that although its Appeal Committee is chaired by American Neil Eggleston, he did not participate in the decision on the Belgian request.
