FIFA’s controversial decision to suspend the automatic one match ban that United States striker Folarin Balogun received when he was sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina is set to have far-reaching ramifications for both their president Gianni Infantino and the World Cup, according to a leading Scottish sports lawyer.
Global football’s governing body sparked an outcry on Sunday when they announced that Balogun, his country’s leading scorer at the finals with three goals, would be free to play in the last 16 match against Belgium despite being shown a straight red card in his previous outing.
The move came after Donald Trump, the American president, and Andrew Guiliani, the executive director of the White House task force for the World Cup, had spoken to Infantino by telephone and been told the disciplinary committee would look into the incident.
There was a furious backlash throughout the game - including from the Belgian FA and UEFA, who both released strongly-worded statements condemning the decision – when it emerged that FIFA had invoked Article 27 of their disciplinary code and suspended the ban for a year.
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Trump, who was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize by Infantino during the draw in Washington back in December, inflamed the situation further when he took to social media to thank the World Cup organisers for “doing what was right and reversing a great injustice”.
Football fans everywhere, not just supporters of Belgium, celebrated when the United States lost their World Cup last 16 match against their European rivals 4-1 in Seattle on Monday night and crashed out of the competition.
However, David Winnie, the former St Mirren, Aberdeen, Hearts, Dundee and Ayr United defender who is now Head of Sport and Scottish legal firm Gilson Gray, believes the Balogun affair will still have serious repercussions for both the World Cup and for Infantino personally.
“I think we're beginning to see the fallout to this already,” he said. “The FA in England were considering asking for Jarell Quansah’s sending off against Mexico to be overturned and his two game suspension lifted.
“There are guardrails in place, the regulations. Article 9 actually stipulates that FIFA may review the disciplinary consequences of a decision if there's an obvious error. But there is already an on-site guardrail - VAR.
“VAR is the second judge. The VAR officials told the referee to review the Balogun incident on the pitchside monitor. He did that and decided it was a red card. So there was no mistake made.
“It could be interpreted as a red card. At the very least, it's a booking. But ultimately that's neither here nor there. It’s the referee’s call in what is a very subjective game. At the time, he said, ‘That's a red card’. There was no obvious error. That being the case, it's a red card and it applies immediately.”
Winnie continued, “In the absence of a proper FIFA explanation for why they suspended the American player’s red card, every other team that gets a player sent off can legitimately go to FIFA and say, ‘We want this suspended’. It has set a precedent.
“Each decision sets a precedent for anything similar that comes up in the future. Teams can use it, can cite it, can say, ‘Our player should be allowed to play because you dealt with that American player like this in similar circumstances’.
“You are going to have every country looking at their sending-offs, looking at any perceived slight or injustice that they feel they have suffered, and going back to FIFA on it.
“Belgium tried to put in an appeal. FIFA knocked them back straight away saying they didn't have any standing. But you're going to have the same kind of situation because FIFA have not put forward the reason why the ban was suspended. They've refused to do it.
“I might be wrong here, but I don't think they're going to do it. In that kind of scenario, it just leaves the whole thing wide open. FIFA have opened the gate and let the horses run out.”
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Winnie penned a forensic legal breakdown of the Balogun affair on the Gilson Gray website this week and emphasised that Article 27 allowed FIFA to suspend disciplinary measures – but he still thinks the governing body and their president will struggle to recover from the row.
“I think FIFA’s credibility will be damaged massively,” he said. “You can see the fallout from it already. Thomas Tuchel was interviewed about it yesterday and he was just shaking his head in disbelief. It is just ridiculous.
“It's going to have a number of effects and they're going to be long lasting. Every nation will come knocking on FIFA's door to say, ‘We want you to invoke Article 27 and suspend this punishment because the American guy got. We want it and if we can't get it tell us the reasons why’.
“UEFA came out and gave a statement basically giving it to FIFA. I've never seen that before. The governing body of global football is effectively being slammed by one of its major parties, by the major party. So it's going to impact on FIFA going forward as well.”
Infantino had been widely criticised during the build-up to this World Cup for awarding Trump the Peace Prize and allegedly breaking FIFA rules on political neutrality, for failing to intervene when Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the United States by immigration officials and for ordinary fans being priced out of attending games by the exorbitant cost of tickets.
Winnie predicted the Balogun affair could prove highly costly for the Swiss-Italian administrator, who succeeded Sepp Blatter in 2016 after his predecessor was forced out of office by a corruption scandal, when he seeks re-election next year.
“Gianni Infantino's actions at this World Cup, which have shown a lack of transparency and integrity, leave FIFA open to accusations of being corrupt once again,” he said. “Without a doubt, this will affect Infantino going forward.
“There's already talk about getting him out. FIFA have been manipulated by a politician and that goes against their whole ethos. He's up for re-election next year. If this doesn't bring him down then nothing will.
“But integrity should have been his watchword, should have been front and centre of everything he did because Blatter was brought down by corruption and by a lack of transparency. But we're seeing that behaviour being re-enacted again, it would seem, with Infantino.
“Because this has been exposed straight away as a politically motivated move, as something the president of a country has apparently coerced FIFA into. So it’s quickly been seen for what it is. This whole thing with Trump and Infantino has, to an extent, tainted the World Cup. It stinks.”
Scottish football was blighted by controversies about big refereeing decisions in high-profile matches last season – but former Scottish Cup winner Winnie expects the Balogun row to lead to rigorous procedures being observed throughout the game going forward.
“If anything, it will help to ensure governing bodies allow decisions over disciplinary matters to be taken at arm’s length to ensure that there is that transparency and integrity,” he said.
