Rubio threatens to confront Belgium at NATO summit following Trump's FIFA intervention
WASHINGTON, DC: The FIFA drama has spilled far beyond the pitch, landing squarely in the political arena. Just hours after Donald Trump confirmed personally asking FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review the red card shown to USA striker Folarin Balogun, Marco Rubio escalated the controversy by hinting at raising the issue at the NATO summit.
The 25-year-old Balogun, the star forward for the US with three goals in the tournament, was set to miss his side's last-16 tie against Belgium after being shown a straight red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday.
But FIFA made the shock decision to suspend Balogun's red card, making him available to face Belgium on Monday after President Trump urged FIFA chief Gianni Infantino to review the case.
Rubio calls the red card a 'bad decision'
The Secretary of State was meeting with Chilean Foreign Minister Francisco Perez Mackenna on Monday, July 06, when he asked about Belgium's appeal of FIFA's decision to reverse the suspension of US player Folarin Balogun.
Rubio blasted the sending-off as a "bad decision," arguing that officials "shouldn’t even be reviewing these things in slow motion, right? They should be reviewing the live action." He added, "I think it was the right decision to reverse it."
Rubio: It was the right decision to reverse it and why would you want to play a game and win a match and then everyone would argue you didn't really win because the best player was not on the pitch during the match. Maybe we will bring it up at NATO tomorrow pic.twitter.com/n8WLKopzUB
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 6, 2026
He asserted that he understood "there’s a lot of drama" surrounding the move. Still, he asked, "If you’re Belgian, why would you want to play a game and win a match, and then you win this match, and then everyone will argue you didn’t really win it because their best player, the leading scorer, was not on the pitch during the match?"
Rubio went on to claim that Belgium might be "trying to get an international incident."
"I don't know; maybe we'll bring it up at NATO tomorrow when we're there with the Belgians and everybody else," he warned.
"But I just hope the match will go on, everyone will be at full strength, and the winner will be the winner."
Trump invokes 2020 election claims to defend FIFA intervention
Weighing in on the controversy during the Oval Office briefing, Trump claimed that keeping the suspension intact would have sparked accusations of bias, with fans believing the match had been rigged for Belgium if it emerged victorious
He then drew parallels to his own repeated claims that the election was rigged against him six years ago. “This game would have a big mark on it if we lost, if we won– no matter what happened,” Trump said.
Trump on Balogun: "I saw the play, and I'm a person that loves sports ... that wasn't a foul. That wasn't even an infraction ... this referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his past. He made a call that nobody could believe ... he's our best player, or one of our best… pic.twitter.com/YfIqb1JA4u
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 6, 2026
“You have to let them use their best players, and the game tonight’s going to be amazing. And we’re gonna have a full team, and Belgium’s gonna have a full team. And you know what?”
“If they beat us, then they can be really proud. The other way, if they beat us, we’ll say it was – I say it was rigged just like the election was rigged in 2020, but I won’t get into that,” he continued.
