FIFA's unprecedented decision to grant an amnesty to US national team striker Folarin Balogun before the match in the 1/8 finals of the World Championship drew a sharp reaction from the side of the Americans' opponent. The Royal Belgian Football Association issued an official communique, which was not without concern, and made specific arguments for violating the tournament regulations.

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The Belgian side notes that FIFA relies on Article 27 of its Disciplinary Code, which effectively allows the Disciplinary Committee to reduce the penalties. Prote Belgians show respect for the legal super-equivalence: Article 66. 4 of the same Code clearly conveys that a red card automatically results in disqualification for the upcoming match.

This very rule was used to punish all other racers who won in the current world championship.. In addition, the association has voiced that the decision was made in favor of Balogun to directly read statistics 10. 5 The Regulations of Emergency Situation 2026 stipulate without any alternative the mechanism of automatic side-by-side attack after direct or indirect red cards.

In its application, the federation also informed FIFA about its official documents and instructions that were transmitted to the tournament: The automatic nature of disqualification will be clearly confirmed in a special circular. This rule is consistently voiced at all coordination meetings before each match of the tournament and is reinforced in presentations at FIFA workshops.

At the end of the year, the Belgian federation came up with possible further guidelines, directly following the disgraceful precedent..

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Apparently, former US President Donald Trump agreed with FIFA through a decision to lift the disqualification from Balogun.