FIFA president Gianni Infantino reported for behaviour at World Cup

This summer's World Cup is drawing to an exciting conclusion but the tournament hasn't been without its controversy.

Of course, we've had a huge amount of issues off the pitch, particularly when it comes to travel and the struggle of many players, fans and staff members to attain visas in the US.

But, believe it or not, one of the biggest controversies at the World Cup was actually to do with the football itself, when AS Monaco striker Folarin Balogun was sent off during the USA's 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32.

Now, many would point out that it was a harsh red card and that VAR maybe didn't need to step in, but the fact is that he was shown the red card and that automatically should have ruled him out of their next game.

However, more controversy would follow when fans in the US kicked up a fuss and their status as co-hosts seem to play a part, as he had his suspension suspended, which certainly doesn't align with the rules about not giving any teams an advantage.

Human rights group FairSquare have since submitted a complaint to the International Olympic Committee this morning (Tuesday 14 July), alleging that Infantino broke rules on political neutrality when he allowed the president to step in to ensure that star striker Folarin Balogun would be permitted to play in the USA's round of 16 fixture against Belgium.

Balogun's overturned suspension made little difference to the result in the end (Sarah Stier - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

FairSquare says Infantino, who became an IOC member in 2020, has actually breached the Olympic Charter and the IOC’s code of ethics on a number of occasions, most recently when he allowed Balogun's red card suspension to be overturned, thanks in part to a phone call from a certain Donald Trump.

Naturally, there was outrage at the decision with many managers from other teams suggesting that it is now unclear who the rules apply to, with England's Jarrell Quansah subsequently ruled out of the games against Norway and Argentina after his red card against Mexico.

Thankfully, Balogun and the rest of the US team seemed to be a little distracted by the goings on behind the scenes as they ended up falling to a 4-1 defeat to Belgium, who had made their feelings about the decision abundantly clear.

Infantino has been accused of breaching political neutrality ( Tasos Katopodis - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Balogun told CBS: “My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my team-mates a bit of nerves, because it’s something that is so unique.

“But the closer we got to the game I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise, and that’s hard to avoid.”

He added: “I was in shock. It wasn’t even a tackle. I was totally in shock, I think you could see my reaction, but I just had to accept the decision and just try to be there for my team.

“When something’s not intentional it should never be a red card, so it was just an unfortunate situation, and I think it put a lot more pressure on us than we needed.”

Despite Mauricio Pochettino's side suffering that early exit, and Balogun's performance not living up to his previous appearances, it seems as if Infantino is not off the hook after allowing the controversial decision to go ahead.

And it seems as if Infantino now faces a battle to keep hold of his FIFA presidency following this latest controversy, with UEFA planning to put forward a potential candidate to replace him.

The Swiss president won't be in charge past 2031 for sure, since rules suggest that he can't stand for a fourth time, although maybe that rule will get suspended as well.