UAE Fifa official 'solely' responsible for overturning Balogun ban
An Emirati member of Fifa's disciplinary committee was "solely" responsible for overturning US footballer Folarin Balogun's red card ban, according to a report in the Times.
Sent off during the Round of 32 game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Balogun was due to be suspended for the US game against Belgium.
However, following communication from US officials including President Donald Trump, Fifa reversed the decision, deploying its rarely invoked Article 27 of the Disciplinary Code.
Trump said that he had called Fifa president Gianni Infantino to review the red card, saying he believed the dismissal was unfair but insisting he did not pressure football’s governing body to overturn the suspension.
According to the Times, Mohammad al-Kamali, chairman of Fifa's disciplinary committee, made the decision on his own without involving any of the 17 other members.
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The US and the United Arab Emirates are close allies. Over the weekend, the US loosened export controls on the UAE, making it easier to export military items, certain commercial satellites and spacecraft, advanced AI chips and drones.
Kamali refused to comment when asked on Saturday by the BBC about the case, which marks the first time since automatic suspensions for red cards were introduced to the World Cup that one has been lifted.
The FT said that the disciplinary committee’s last 110 published decisions were all made by Kamali alone.
The decision on Balogun has not been published however.
The lifting of the suspension caused a furious backlash, including from Uefa, European football's governing body, which branded it "unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable".
Infantino admitted Trump had contacted him about the lifting of the red card, but said an “independent judicial body” was overseeing the case, which “would be decided in due course by the competent bodies”.
Despite the overturning of the suspension, Belgium knocked the US out of the tournament in the next round, hammering them 4-1 with some commentators suggesting they were spurred on by anger at the Fifa decision.
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