Trump calls referee who sent off Balogun 'suspicious'

• US President defended Folarin Balogun, saying his World Cup red card was the result of a routine collision.
• He said he personally contacted Gianni Infantino to request a review of the disciplinary decision.
• Trump also cited the incident while highlighting his role in bringing the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games to the United States.

US President Donald Trump has issued a detailed defense of national team striker Folarin Balogun, calling his recent World Cup red card "very unfair" and confirming that he personally petitioned FIFA to overturn the automatic next-match suspension.

Speaking about the controversial incident, Trump dismissed the referee’s ruling altogether, asserting that his own background as an athlete gave him the clarity to see that no infraction had occurred during the match.

"I saw the play... and that wasn't a foul. That wasn't even an infraction," Trump stated. "That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other... these were two great athletes that got tangled up."

Criticism to VAR metrics

Trump directed sharp criticism toward the match referee responsible for issuing the red card, heavily implying bias or incompetence without specifying the official's identity.

"This referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his past... made a call that nobody could believe," Trump said, adding that even members of the opposing team acknowledged they had benefited from extraordinary luck.

The US President also took aim at the mechanics of modern video officiating, expressing astonishment at how slow-motion replays alter the perception of real-time sports dynamics.

He argued that freeze-framing isolated fractions of a second creates a false impression of intentional misconduct, whereas viewing the play in fast motion accurately reveals it as an inadvertent entanglement.

Political framing

Trump admitted that he initially did not understand the severe structural implications of a red card.

Upon learning that it carried an automatic ban for the subsequent knockout fixture, he deemed the penalty inherently unjust.

"It's one thing to penalize somebody for the game, but how do you penalize them for a game that hasn't been played yet? It's very unfair, you can't do that," Trump argued.

Confronted with the potential loss of what he termed the team's "best player," Trump confirmed he took matters into his own hands by contacting a highly respected figure at the top of FIFA leadership, an individual whose reputation he noted has since grown "tenfold" due to his efforts to promote the sport domestically.

Trump closed his remarks by framing the entire sporting resolution as a distinct political victory over his domestic rivals.

"I'm the one that got them to do it. It was not Biden. Biden was asleep," Trump declared.

He concluded by lamenting that if standard political cycles had progressed normally, he would be retired today, but noted that "the saddest thing" for his opponents is that his legacy remains permanently tied to securing both the Olympic Games and the 2026 World Cup for the country.