Norway to consider Fifa ethics complaint over Trump’s role in Balogun red-card decision
Norway’s football federation says it will consider lodging a formal ethics complaint with Fifa after former US president Donald Trump intervened in the review of Folarin Balogun’s World Cup red card. The federation’s board will discuss whether to file the complaint at its next meeting, which it says is likely to take place on 6 August.
Trump called Infantino for review of Balogun’s red. Donald Trump’s role in clearing Folarin Balogun from a mandatory one-game ban at the World Cup is set to provoke a formal complaint to Fifa ethics investigators. Norwegian federation president: Fifa on a ‘slippery slope’. The Norway soccer federation confirmed on Thursday that its board of directors will consider the matter at its forthcoming session.
The sequence of events centred on a red card shown to Balogun during the World Cup and a subsequent review that removed the obligatory one-match suspension. Those developments have drawn attention because of the involvement of an outside actor — Donald Trump — in communications with Fifa leadership. The federation’s announcement frames the situation as one requiring scrutiny under Fifa’s ethical rules and procedures.
The federation’s statement sets a clear timetable: the board will take the question up at the meeting likely on 6 August. Officials said the point for consideration will be whether the circumstances around the intervention warrant referral to ethics investigators at Fifa. The move demonstrates the Norwegian governing body’s intent to follow formal channels rather than addressing the matter through public comment alone.
Norway’s approach centres on process: by examining a possible complaint internally first, the federation will decide if there is sufficient cause to trigger an official Fifa ethics inquiry. The implications would be handled through the sport’s established regulatory framework, with any allegation forwarded to the appropriate investigatory arm. No decision on filing a complaint has yet been reached by the board.
The situation highlights a high-profile instance in which external contact with Fifa’s leadership coincided with a change to disciplinary measures affecting a national-team player. The federation’s planned review on 6 August will determine whether those contacts and the outcome produce grounds for an ethics case. If the board opts to proceed, the matter would be referred to Fifa ethics investigators for consideration.