Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) president, Lise Klaveness, has announced plans to seek a formal ethics review of FIFA’s decision to suspend Folarin Balogun’s automatic World Cup suspension, alleging that external political influence may have affected the ruling.
Klaveness, speaking to The Times, said she would ask the NFF board to pursue an ethics complaint over the decision, which allowed the United States forward to feature in the team’s round-of-16 victory over Belgium despite receiving a red card against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The NFF president urged FIFA president Gianni Infantino to acknowledge what she described as an “error,” claiming that the disciplinary decision was influenced by pressure from outside football.
Her comments followed remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who publicly stated that he had asked Infantino to review Balogun’s red card. Trump later praised FIFA after the suspension was lifted, describing the decision as a positive outcome.
However, Infantino has maintained that FIFA’s disciplinary bodies operate independently and that decisions are made through established procedures.
Klaveness warned that allowing political considerations to influence football disciplinary matters could damage the credibility of the sport and create what she described as a “slippery slope” that threatens football’s core principles.
She also raised concerns over reports that the decision was taken by a single member of FIFA’s disciplinary committee rather than a wider panel, arguing that major disciplinary matters should involve multiple decision-makers, especially where allegations of external influence exist.
According to Klaveness, the issue will be discussed at the NFF’s next board meeting, where she intends to push for the complaint to be considered alongside an existing ethics matter involving FIFA’s decision to award its Peace Prize to Trump.
Her comments came after a separate complaint was reportedly filed with the International Olympic Committee alleging that Infantino breached political neutrality principles through his interactions with Trump.
FIFA has yet to issue a formal response to Klaveness’ latest remarks.
