FIFA boss Gianni Infantino broke the international soccer physique’s own guidelines and fixed the scrapping of US star Folarin Balogun’s World Cup crimson card during a telephone call with President Donald Trump, 4 sources briefed on the matter instructed The Post.
The Swiss-Italian sports activities chief agreed to quash the ahead’s suspension, breaching the international group’s own disciplinary code, in talks with the commander-in-chief on July 1, the 4 FIFA insiders said.
“He told President Trump that he would take care of it. One call and it was done,” one of the sources instructed The Post.
President Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino maintain the FIFA World Cup Winner’s Trophy at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19.. Getty Images
Balogun was despatched off during his aspect’s match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, that means he would have been ineligible for the key conflict against Belgium in the spherical of 16 without Infantino’s extraordinary intervention.
He beforehand claimed that he had no involvement with the choice.
The revelations could put contemporary strain on Infantino, who angered soccer followers and federations alike when he secretly struck a deal to dump FIFA’s business rights to Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital.
As The Post beforehand reported, the plan got scrapped amid the outrage at Infantino, who is eyeing a fourth time period at the prime of international soccer in FIFA’s presidential election this March.
Leaked paperwork obtained by The Post show the shadowy Zurich-based group is quietly rewriting its disciplinary code.
Late Tuesday night time, just 36 hours before a high-stakes disaster summit in Switzerland, the non-profit’s prime brass despatched a draft code change that forbids FIFA legal panels from suspending computerized one-game bans for crimson playing cards.
The Post first reported Trump’s transfer to quash the USMNT star’s crimson card in July.
Infantino has been under fire over his handling of the secret World Cup selloff plan. REUTERS
In an accompanying memo, FIFA officers claimed the rewrite is needed to guarantee stability and defend the integrity of competitions.
Critics inside European soccer federations say the midnight submitting quantities to an admission of guilt. They view the rule change as a retroactive attempt to cowl up Infantino’s meddling in the Balogun case after outreach from Trump.
Ironically, Balogun, who was also eligible to play for England and Nigeria, obtained birthright citizenship that the administration has moved to ban.
“All presidents and prime ministers hosting a World Cup would want to ask for a favor to be done in this situation,” said one soccer insider. “But the corruption is purely Infantino’s because he had to say: ‘We can’t change the rules, Mr President.”
Folarin Balogun discovered himself at the heart of the crimson card furore earlier this 12 months BENJAMIN FANJOY/EPA / Shutterstock
After Trump contacted Infantino about the punishment over the summer season, FIFA’s disciplinary panel took the unprecedented step of suspending the ban, permitting Balogun to play in the next 4-1 defeat against Belgium.
The choice sparked fury across Europe. Last week, Norwegian soccer boss Lise Klaveness filed an ethics grievance accusing Infantino of breaking political neutrality guidelines, citing both the US crimson card reprieve and Infantino’s creation of a FIFA peace prize for Trump.
Now, inside memos circulating among soccer bigwigs recommend FIFA’s management is attempting to faux its rulebook had a loophole all along.
“There was never a doubt nor lack of clarity on how the automatic suspension following a red card is to be served,” states an inside briefing doc circulated forward of Thursday’s assembly. “This is a way for FIFA to cure the handling of the Balogun case during the World Cup.”
A package deal of historic directives connected to the briefing exhibits FIFA has banned exceptions to one-game crimson card suspensions for more than 20 years.
A billboard posted in Times Square — seen on September 4, 2026 — was paid for by a disgruntled FIFA fan group asking for FIFA to take away Gianni Infantino as president. Robert Miller for NY Post
FIFA circulars from 2002, 2003 and 2005 reviewed by The Post state that necessary one-game bans can only be waived if a referee playing cards the unsuitable participant by mistake.
An Oct. 22, 2002, memo from US Soccer warned American leagues that associations can’t cross distinctive guidelines to keep away from necessary crimson card bans.
The rulebook combat provides to a growing revolt against Infantino by European soccer leaders forward of Thursday’s assembly.
UEFA threatened to boycott FIFA tournaments over Infantino’s secret push for a $20 billion business privatization deal involving Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and his brother Joshua Kushner’s firm, Thrive Capital.
UEFA, which is also based mostly in Switzerland, later went to federal court in Florida in search of subpoenas against Thrive Capital as Infantino skipped a deliberate Hamptons assembly with financiers. Its attorneys believe the FIFA chief may have damaged Swiss law.
The Times of London reported on Tuesday that tax filings confirmed a US World Cup subsidiary paid Infantino an undeclared $1.76 million in 2024, including more than $620,000 for a luxurious Miami housing allowance, alongside a $3.57 million FIFA lease for an empty workplace in Manhattan’s Trump Tower.
This newspaper has reported how Infantino has been crisscrossing the globe in a Qatar-registered non-public jet in a bid to shore up his place, even dipping into FIFA funds to pay for his own PR.
The Post has sought remark from FIFA.
