Norway to File Fifa Ethics Complaint Over Trump’s Role in Balogun Ban Reversal
Norway’s football federation is preparing to lodge a formal complaint with Fifa’s ethics investigators following Donald Trump’s intervention in the Folarin Balogun red-card saga at the World Cup 2026 hub.
According to The Guardian, Norway’s board of directors will consider filing the complaint at its next meeting, likely scheduled for 6 August. The move follows a sequence of events that Klaveness described as unprecedented in 60 years of World Cup football.
Balogun received a red card during the USA’s group-stage match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would normally have triggered an automatic one-game suspension. Instead, after Trump phoned Fifa president Gianni Infantino — and publicly called the original red card a “horrible” call — Balogun’s ban was deferred, allowing him to feature against Belgium in the quarter-final.
The USA lost that match 4-1. Belgium’s players were, by many accounts, galvanised by the controversy surrounding the fixture.
Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness — a lawyer, judge, and elected member of Uefa’s executive committee — was blunt in her assessment.