Trump Asked FIFA to Review U.S. Player’s Suspension. Now He’s Eligible To play – Report

President Trump called Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, on Wednesday and asked him to review the suspension of the United States’ top goal scorer in the World Cup, Folarin Balogun, after he was given a red card in the team’s match that night against Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to three people familiar with the conversation.

On Sunday, FIFA reversed the suspension, announcing that Mr. Balogun would be eligible to play Monday against Belgium.

The reversal is highly unusual and is the first time since 1962 that FIFA has allowed a player to appear in a game when they would have been suspended after being sent off in the World Cup. Mr. Infantino has spent years trying to curry favor with Mr. Trump. Last year, FIFA created and gave Mr. Trump the FIFA Peace Prize amid the president’s public, but failed, campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Belgian federation reacted with fury on Sunday. In a statement it described being “astonished by FIFA’s decision to declare suspended United States player Folarin Balogun eligible to play in the U.S.A.-Belgium match.”

The federation added that it was “investigating all potential options.”

The White House referred to Mr. Trump’s post on social media in which he celebrated FIFA’s announcement, though he did not say that he called Mr. Infantino, nor did he take any credit for the decision.