By Rohith Nair
MIAMI, July 6 (Reuters) – Belgium are challenging the eligibility of U.S. striker Folarin Balogun for their last-16 World Cup clash on Monday after the Royal Belgian Football Association said FIFA treated their letter seeking a copy of the decision as an inadmissible appeal.
FIFA suspended Balogun’s red-card ban and cleared him to play in the round-of-16 tie after U.S. President Donald Trump personally urged FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review the case.
The Royal Belgian Football Association said they had still not received any decision or any explanation from FIFA regarding Balogun’s eligibility.
“It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player’s eligibility for the upcoming match,” the RBFA said.
The RBFA said FIFA considered its correspondence to constitute an appeal and rejected it on technical grounds.
“For an appeal to be admissible, FIFA’s own regulations state that the reasoned decision must first have been communicated to the appellant,” the RBFA said.
“While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, FIFA itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible.
“All of this occurred while FIFA simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA’s legitimate requests.”
The RBFA also said FIFA removed the automatic player suspension section from a pre-match coordination meeting presentation and failed to explain the change despite repeated oral and written requests.
“Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole,” the RBFA added.
Reuters has contacted FIFA for comment.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Miami; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
