IOC Declines Infantino Probe Over Trump’s Balogun Red-Card Call, Citing 100-Plus Members Rule
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 25
IOC Declines Infantino Probe Over Trump’s Balogun Red-Card Call, Citing 100-Plus Members Rule
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 25
Summary
The IOC said Friday it will not open an ethics investigation into FIFA president Gianni Infantino over Donald Trump’s request to review Folarin Balogun’s World Cup red card.
FairSquare’s complaint fell outside IOC jurisdiction, the committee said, because it concerned FIFA governance, government ties and application of football rules rather than Infantino’s specific relationship with the Olympic body.
Trump had publicly said he called Infantino after Balogun’s round-of-32 dismissal, and FIFA later suspended the red card, restoring the USMNT forward’s eligibility while denying political influence.
That decision deepened an already heated dispute over whether Balogun should have been sent off at all; he played against Belgium, but the United States still lost 4-1.
The case tested Olympic neutrality principles that apply across FIFA and the IOC’s 100-plus members, but the Olympic body drew a line between sports governance disputes and matters under its ethics remit.