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2026 FIFA World Cup
18JUL

72 MEPs target FIFA's Balogun reversal

2 min read
13:09UTC

72 members of the European Parliament wrote to all 27 European football associations demanding an investigation into FIFA's reversal of Folarin Balogun's ban.

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Key takeaway

72 MEPs asked Europe's football associations to investigate FIFA's reversal of Folarin Balogun's ban.

72 members of the European Parliament wrote to the heads of all 27 European football associations on Tuesday 14 July, calling for an investigation into the reversal by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) of Folarin Balogun's suspension. 1 The European Parliament is the directly elected legislature of the European Union, and its members hold no authority over football's governing body, so the letter is a political demand rather than a legal one.

Balogun is an England-eligible forward whose red-card ban FIFA lifted after a reported telephone call from President Trump to FIFA president Gianni Infantino . The reversal cleared him to play against Belgium and drew an immediate line of protest, with UEFA calling it "incomprehensible" and Belgium's own appeal ruled inadmissible. The MEPs are now widening that protest from football's internal channels into the political institutions of the bloc whose associations run most of the game's biggest leagues.

The letter runs alongside a second governance track. The campaign group FairSquare has pledged to refer Infantino to the International Olympic Committee's ethics commission , a body FIFA does not control. Neither route can overturn the Balogun decision, but together they keep a case FIFA has declined to explain in front of institutions it cannot appoint or instruct.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Seventy-two members of the European Parliament (MEPs, the elected representatives who sit in the EU's law-making body) wrote to the heads of every European football association, asking them to investigate why FIFA reversed a suspension for player Folarin Balogun after a phone call from Donald Trump to FIFA president Gianni Infantino. This is separate from an earlier complaint to the International Olympic Committee, which oversees Infantino personally because he is a member of that committee, meaning there are now two separate investigations into the same decision moving on different tracks. It is not yet clear whether either will lead to FIFA changing its ruling.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

FIFA's Congress operates on a one-country, one-vote basis across 211 member associations, meaning Europe's federations, even acting together, cannot outvote the rest of FIFA's membership on their own.

That voting structure is the reason MEPs are lobbying national federations to raise the issue collectively rather than pursuing a motion at FIFA's own Congress, where a European bloc alone could not guarantee the numbers to succeed.

Sources:PolitiFact
Mentions:European Parliament →Folarin Balogun →FIFA →Gianni Infantino →Donald Trump →International Olympic Committee →FairSquare →European Union →Belgium →UEFA →England →
First Reported In

Update #41 · Argentina reach final amid Falklands row

PolitiFact· 16 Jul 2026
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Causes and effects
Caused by
FIFA clears Balogun for Belgium tie
FIFA's reversal of Balogun's ban is the subject of the MEPs' letter to European football associations.
Occurred 6 Jul 2026
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FairSquare takes Infantino fight to IOC
FairSquare's pledge to refer Infantino to the IOC runs alongside the European Parliament's separate governance track.
Occurred 8 Jul 2026
Read story →
This Event
72 MEPs target FIFA's Balogun reversal
The Balogun reversal has moved from football's own bodies into European Parliament politics.
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