Donald Trump’s decision to influence FIFA into overturning Folarin Balogun’s Red Card has been dubbed ‘utter nonsense’ by Simon Jordan.
A lot has been made about Trump putting pressure on Gianni Infantino to overturn the one-match ban for Balogun heading into their Round of 16 game against Belgium.
Andrew Giuliani, Trump’s appointed World Cup liaison, defended this intervention, which has not gone down well with Simon Jordan.
Simon Jordan blasts Andrew Giuliani and Donald Trump for FIFA intervention
Speaking on talkSPORT, Simon Jordan responded to Andrew Giuliani’s statement defending Donald Trump’s intervention into the Folarin Balogun suspension matter.
Jordan rejected Giuliani’s comments, suggesting that he didn’t make any sense with his comments and attacked the President of the United States for ‘hurting the integrity of the game.’
“FIFA’s responsibility is to uphold the integrity of the game. They didn’t do their job. FIFA were influenced by a leader of a state deciding that the outcome of a game or a particular circumstance of a game that he didn’t concur with, even though he didn’t have the faintest idea of what he was talking about.
“Andrew Giuliani was admirable in his robust defence of his position, which is that everything Donald Trump says must be right. He talked utter nonsense and redirected much of the conversation.
“The process is not about whether the player was sent off. In football, things happen on the field that people don’t like and agree with.
“When you take the game into a situation where the integrity of the game and the authenticity of the regulation is called into pass, no other country could have made a call to FIFA and gotten a decision overturned.”
Simon Jordan believes FIFA are also to blame for entertaining Donald Trump’s request for a probe
Jordan not only rejected Giuliani and Trump’s position, but also went after FIFA for entertaining such blatant intervention from a political figure.
“This is about the integrity of the game. And the people who have let us down are not Donald Trump and his stooges. It is FIFA. FIFA have a choice.
“The question should not be, ‘Did Donald Trump feel that he could make a call such as that?’ Why did FIFA decide to break their own processes to convene a process that does not exist?
“The red card position is that you are sent off, and you have no ability to rescind. They’re redirecting it as well. ‘It wasn’t us that did it, it was an independent commission.’ Yeah, but you convened an independent convention, and your own rules don’t provide for that!”
FIFA suspending Balogun’s ban caused a lot of controversy, as many felt it was Gianni Infantino once again conceding to Donald Trump’s whims, as he has been accused of doing in the lead-up to the tournament.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
