Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has joined calls for Gianni Infantino to resign over the Folarin Balogun saga at the World Cup.
Balogun was sent off for the United States against Bosnia and Herzegovina but permitted to play the co-hosts’ round of 16 defeat to Belgium after his ban was suspended by a Fifa disciplinary committee.
The decision came after a personal intervention from Donald Trump, with the US president bragging about calling Infantino to ask for a “review” of the striker’s sanction.
Trump and Infantino have a long friendship, with the former presented with the inaugural “Fifa Peace Prize” in December at the draw for the World Cup.
His apparent political interference has provoked a strong rebuke within football, though, with Klopp a strong critic.
“This is our sport, not theirs,” said Klopp, who is set to be appointed as the new manager of Germany. “If Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino really sorted this out between themselves, it is madness; it calls everything into question.”
Former England striker Gary Lineker suggested that USA manager Mauricio Pochettino should have considered leaving Balogun out of his side for the 4-1 defeat to Belgium.
“Obviously, you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Belgium,” Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast. “They didn’t let that decision get to them, bringing Balogun back. And I thought this at the time, it would have been a good play for either Balogun or Mauricio Pochettino to just say, actually, I don’t think that’s right for football, the integrity of the game, the integrity of the sport. And I wonder whether they were better off just saying, ‘actually, we’re going to leave him out anyway’.”
Infantino was also condemned by his predecessor Sepp Blatter, who was impeached in 2015 after receiving an eight-year ban from football, and Uefa, which governs the sport in Europe.
The Fifa president has meanwhile faced calls from British politicians to resign, as well as David Bernstein, a former chair of the Football Association (FA).
“It hits at one of the beauties of football – the worldwide application across the world of regulations and rules,” Bernstein, a prominent critic of Blatter’s during his tenure, said.
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, was emphatic that “Infantino must go”.
He added: “No matter where it’s held, the World Cup belongs to the fans – not gangsters like Trump.”
Infantino has been president of Fifa since 2016. He has twice been re-elected unopposed to the position, and earlier this year confirmed his intention to stand again for another four-year term in 2027.
