FIFA Disciplinary Committee chairman Mohammad Al-Kamali personally decided to suspend the ban imposed on United States forward Folarin Balogun, İdman.Biz reports, citing The Times.
Balogun received a straight red card in the Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-0), which should have ruled him out of the Round of 16 encounter with Belgium. However, FIFA overturned the suspension, allowing the striker to return for the knockout clash.
The decision did not change the outcome for the Americans, who suffered a 4-1 defeat to Belgium and were eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
According to the report, the verdict was issued solely by Al-Kamali, without the participation of the other 17 members of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.
The source notes that while individual disciplinary rulings had previously been made by deputy chairman Jorge Palacio, this is the first known case in which Al-Kamali personally took such a significant decision on his own.
The report adds that, based on a database of more than 100 published disciplinary rulings, major cases had traditionally been examined and approved collectively by a three-member panel. Al-Kamali had never before acted alone in a case of this magnitude, making the Balogun decision an unprecedented move.
