FairSquare files IOC complaint against Infantino over Trump-Balogun red card reversal

Human rights organisation FairSquare has filed a complaint with the International Olympic Committee accusing FIFA president Gianni Infantino of breaching the Olympic Charter and the IOC’s code of ethics, with the Folarin Balogun red card controversy at the centre of its latest allegations.

The complaint identifies five clear violations of the IOC’s rules on political neutrality, alongside what FairSquare describes as prima facie evidence of two additional serious violations. Infantino has been an IOC member since 2020. The organisation submitted a comparable complaint to FIFA’s own ethics committee in December, receiving only an acknowledgement with no further updates since.

The most recent incident concerns the lifting of Balogun’s one-match suspension by FIFA’s disciplinary committee, which cleared the United States forward to play in their last-16 clash against Belgium. The decision followed a telephone conversation between Infantino and US President Donald Trump. Infantino has maintained that FIFA’s committees operate entirely independently, while The Times reported that disciplinary committee chair Mohammad Al Kamali took the decision alone — despite having no prior record of acting as the sole decision-maker in any previously published disciplinary matter. FIFA has provided no clarification as to why the suspension was reversed.

Balogun himself addressed the episode on CBS Mornings, acknowledging the distraction it created within the USMNT squad. “My initial reaction was that I was happy to be back in the team,” he said. “But when I started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy. I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves because it’s something that is so unique.”

He added that the uncertainty disrupted his preparation. “The team was practicing without me in the team — I’m almost just playing a supporting role to keep morale high. It was difficult — a lot of outside noise and that’s hard to avoid.”

The pressure on Infantino has been building beyond FairSquare’s complaint. In May, the Norwegian football federation wrote to FIFA’s ethics committee calling on it to examine FairSquare’s grievance, and on 29 June, 50 members of the European Parliament wrote to the same committee urging it to act. FIFA has not responded publicly to any of these interventions.