Donald Trump never misses an opportunity to turn an international incident into a story about Donald Trump.
This time, the setting was the World Cup, where the United States had just been handed an unexpectedly helpful boost before their last-16 tie against Belgium. US striker Folarin Balogun had been sent off during America’s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, meaning he was expected to miss the next round through suspension.
Then FIFA stepped in.
What happened
The governing body suspended Balogun’s one-match ban, clearing him to play against Belgium and prompting fury from critics who accused FIFA of bending its own rules following political pressure from the White House. According to Reuters, Trump confirmed he had personally asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review the red card, while FIFA insisted its judicial process remained independent. UEFA criticised the decision, with Sky Sports reporting that European football’s governing body said FIFA had “crossed a red line” and put the integrity of the game at stake.
The White House celebrated the decision on X, posting: “USA-USA-USA,” alongside Trump’s own message thanking FIFA for “doing what was right” and “reversing a great injustice.” It was the sort of post you might expect from a fan account after a controversial VAR decision, not from the official account of the White House.
Why this is about more than football
The detail many people immediately noticed was that Balogun is a US citizen because he was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Nigerian parents, before growing up in London. Reuters described him as a player caught at the crossroads of football, politics and national identity.
That detail matters considerably, because Trump has repeatedly attacked birthright citizenship, the constitutional principle that grants US citizenship to anyone born on American soil. Only last week, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, ruling 6-3 against his executive order, with Chief Justice Roberts writing that the promise of citizenship to “every free-born person in this land” is one “we keep today.”
So Trump was, within days of that ruling, loudly celebrating the international eligibility of a player whose American citizenship exists precisely because of the constitutional right he has spent his second term trying to dismantle. The hypocrisy was not difficult to spot, and social media spotted it instantly.
The reaction
The White House’s own account, @WhiteHouse, posted its victory lap with the simple message: “USA-USA-USA,” treating a FIFA disciplinary ruling like a penalty shootout win. Trump’s personal account thanked FIFA for “doing what was right” and “reversing a great injustice,” a dramatic way to describe a footballer avoiding a single-match ban. ESPN reported the news plainly, noting Balogun would be available for the round of 16 against Belgium after FIFA suspended the red card, only for the White House to repost it as though a genuine crisis had been resolved.
Alex Cole picked up the birthright citizenship irony directly, writing: “Big win for birthright citizenship!” Others made the same point without needing to spell it out at all: Trump wants to restrict birthright citizenship, unless birthright citizenship happens to produce a striker capable of helping the United States through a World Cup knockout match. Funny how these things work.
Some focused on the sheer strangeness of a sitting president personally intervening in a football suspension. One user joked that Trump saying “Folarin Balogun” down the phone sounded like something out of Harry Potter.
Others turned their attention to FIFA itself, with one particularly pointed reply noting that Sepp Blatter’s reputation for corruption now looks almost quaint by comparison to Gianni Infantino’s handling of the episode.
The bigger picture
The wider reaction consistently returned to the same underlying point: this was never really about one tackle, one red card, or one striker. It was about political influence over a supposedly independent sporting body, FIFA’s credibility, and a US president who has spent years attacking birthright citizenship suddenly celebrating its benefits the moment it helped his own national team.
Balogun gets to play. Trump gets to gloat. FIFA gets another integrity row to answer for. And everyone watching gets to ask the obvious question: what exactly would have happened if this had been any other country’s president making the same call to Infantino?
One response to “Trump was delighted after FIFA let US star play again, and the hypocrisy was visible from space”
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An utterly appalling decision from FIFA. It is so blatantly corrupt. It is indefensible. Belgium should refuse to play –Turn up, warm-up, prepare as normal, then walk off.
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