UEFA slams FIFA for 'crossing red line' with decision to overturn World Cup ban after Trump intervention

Few people would have predicted that the US would make it to the quarter-finals of this World Cup but their chances of doing so have been given a significant but controversial boost.

The co-hosts topped their group and eased to a round of 32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite star striker Folarin Balogun getting sent off.

Although the contact was accidental, it certainly endangered his opponent, and the Monaco forward was shown a red card after a VAR review.

Red cards in World Cup football cannot be appealed meaning that every football fan in the world expected Balogun to be missing for the round of 16 game against Belgium, but it seems as if we underestimated the influence of perhaps the world's most powerful man.

Balogun's ban was suspended, with the New York Post reporting that U.S. Soccer 'threatened legal action against FIFA for incorrectly applying its video assistant referee process', meaning he is now eligible to play in tonight's fixture, something both Belgium and UEFA are less than pleased about.

UEFA has hit back at FIFA's controversial decision in a statement in which the footballing organisation claims FIFA has 'undermined' the credibility of the World Cup.

Balogun was shown a red for his challenge on Tarik Muharemovic (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

It read: "Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line.

"Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not. A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted.

"It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.

"When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined. Equally, such decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition.

"Football is the most loved sport in the world because it is a beautiful game and is trusted because it is played everywhere with the same laws. A tournament is never a pure standalone and, if the tournament in question is the World Cup, it has the power to drive positive or negative consequences on the game as a whole.

"We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision."

While Thomas Tuchel has already joked about getting Donald Trump to lift Jarrell Quansah's suspension after he was sent off in the dramatic 3-2 win over Mexico, it seems as if the US president did actually have an impact on the decision, with reports suggesting that he called Gianni Infantino personally.

Trump was perhaps always going to have an influence on the World Cup one way or another (Jia Haocheng - Pool/Getty Images)

He also thanked FIFA for its decision, writing: "Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice! President DONALD J. TRUMP."

FIFA has since justified its decision by citing article 27 in its rulebook, which allows it to suspend the implementation of disciplinary action at will.

"In line with article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year," the statement read.

"If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement."

Trump has already seemingly made plans to hand over the iconic trophy to the winners and given his obvious influence, perhaps it's not too much of a stretch to suggest that he's determined to hand it over to a fellow American, even if it means tweaking the rulebook.

LADbible has contacted FIFA for comment.