U.S. President 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. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
The Norway soccer federation said Thursday its board of directors will consider filing the complaint at its next meeting, likely on Aug. 6.
"We need our leader in FIFA to say that this was an error," Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness told London daily The Times in an interview published Thursday.
After Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a one-game ban for Balogun's red-card tackle against Bosnia-Herzegovina was deferred so he could play against Belgium with a quarterfinals place at stake.
Belgium beat the U.S. 4-1 after a chaotic 36 hours at the World Cup. The Belgium players were seemingly fired up by one of the all-time controversies in tournament history.
Trump called the referee's red card for Balogun after video review a "horrible" call and took credit for getting FIFA to review what should routinely have been a one-game ban.
"We all know that this verdict was influenced from external forces and did not have the proper process," Klaveness told The Times of the FIFA ruling that was unprecedented in the past 60 years at World Cups.
"When you bend a rule like this, you're on a slippery slope that will put the whole game at risk," said the former Women's World Cup player for Norway, who is an elected member of European soccer body.