<\/div>\nInfantino said he had explained to Trump that \u201cthere was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA\u2019s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies\u201d.<\/p>\n
The football chief said he always read the decisions handed down and \u201csometimes I am surprised by them. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I disagree\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWhat I always do, however, is respect those decisions and the autonomy of the bodies that make them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The incident has set a worrying precedent – England\u2019s Football Association is reportedly considering whether to appeal the red card Jarell Quansah received during the Round of 16 victory over co-hosts Mexico on Monday AEST, while France could do the same with Michael Olise\u2019s second yellow card.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, former Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling has demanded that Infantino resign immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an absolute disgrace,\u201d he told talkSPORT<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are missing the point when they say \u2018it may not have been a red card\u2019. That\u2019s irrelevant. It\u2019s how the authorities have gone about this. Gianni Infantino needs to resign. He needs to resign today.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cHe\u2019s the man who came up with the great idea of the FIFA Peace Prize and gave it to his mate, Donald Trump. And of course his mate is the one who then tries to influence this decision and have this suspension overturned.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>President Donald Trump holds the FIFA World Cup Winners Trophy as FIFA President Gianni Infantino looks on. AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin, File<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nEuropean football\u2019s governing body UEFA said FIFA had \u201ccrossed a red line\u201d by allowing Balogun to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cFootball, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not,\u201d UEFA added.<\/p>\n
It also warned of the ramifications for the sport as a whole.<\/p>\n
\u201cFootball is the most loved sport in the world because it is a beautiful game and is trusted because is played everywhere with the same laws,\u201d UEFA said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA tournament is never a pure standalone and, if the tournament in question is the World Cup, it has the power to drive positive or negative consequences on the game as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belgium coach Rudi Garcia said he thought it was an April Fool\u2019s joke when he heard Balogun\u2019s card had been suspended, while Norway coach Stale Solbakken said FIFA had made \u201ca big mistake\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jurgen Klopp, who is set to be Germany\u2019s next coach, also hit out, saying: \u201cThis is our game, not theirs… If Trump and Infantino really worked this all out between themselves, that\u2019s crazy. It calls everything into question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former England and Manchester United star Gary Neville said FIFA\u2019s decision represented \u201ca stain\u201d on the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Trump) rang up somebody at FIFA and asked them to change their mind, and lo and behold, an independent committee then changed their mind,\u201d Neville said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt stinks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>FIFA President Gianni Infantino, right, awards President Donald Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize. AP Photo\/Chris Carlson, File<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFormer FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who was replaced by Infantino in 2016 following a corruption scandal, wrote on X: \u201cRed cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies. If a US president intervenes with the FIFA president – and a player is suddenly cleared before a World Cup knockout match – the question is unavoidable: Quo vadis (where are you going), FIFA?\u201d<\/p>\n
Infantino said he often discussed events at the World Cup with Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cI regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Infantino, a Swiss-Italian who has led FIFA since 2016, was a frequent visitor to the White House in the buildup to the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Last year, he awarded Trump a newly created FIFA peace prize, which he presented to the president at the World Cup draw in Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FIFA chief Gianni Infantino has defended the decision to reprieve US World Cup star Folarin Balogun amid growing calls for his immediate resignation, with other nations set to follow in America\u2019s footsteps. Balogun, the US team\u2019s outstanding player at the World Cup, had been set to miss the last-16 game against Belgium in Seattle on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-251837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}