Balogun, Garrincha and Pinochet: FIFA’s controversial World Cup decisions
The Balogun affair has shocked football, but FIFA’s showpiece has a long history of fixes, farces and failures. The United States’ World Cup campaign is
The Balogun affair has shocked football, but FIFA’s showpiece has a long history of fixes, farces and failures. The United States’ World Cup campaign is mired in controversy after FIFA seemingly broke its own rules to allow star striker Folarin Balogun to face Belgium in Monday’s last 16 clash, despite picking up a red card in Wednesday’s Round of 32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. World football’s governing body announced it had suspended the automatic one-match ban after President Donald Trump phoned FIFA chief Gianni Infantino to urge him to review the case. Infantino reportedly bypassed his own 37-member council to unilaterally create and award Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize during the World Cup draw. Balogun, who plays for Monaco in France, has scored three goals and is his country’s leading scorer at this World Cup. The decision prompted criticism from Belgium’s football association as well as Europe’s top football body UEFA, which argued that setting aside a suspension after direct political intervention undermined the integrity of the tournament and set a dangerous precedent. But this is far from the first time FIFA has found itself at the centre of a World Cup storm. From political interference to corruption scandals, football’s governing body has a long record of controversy at its own showpiece event. Here is a look back at some of the most notable 1930: The whistle that came too soon FIFA’s very first World Cup had barely begun before it ran into hot water. Argentina led France 1-0 through an 81st-minute Luis Monti free kick in a group game in Montevideo, Uruguay, when Brazilian referee Gilberto de Almeida Rego blew for full-time in the 84th minute – six minutes early – just as French winger Marcel Langiller broke clear with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The French players protested furiously and mounted police rode onto the pitch to restore order. After consulting his linesman, Rego accepted his error and the players were recalled to complete the remaining minutes. A rattled France failed to score and Argentina’s 1-0 win stood. The World Cup was just two days old at the time. 1962: Garrincha, the red card and two presidents Long before Folarin Balogun, there was Garrincha. Brazil’s mercurial winger – carrying the team in the injured Pele’s absence – scored twice in a 4-2 semifinal win over hosts Chile in 1962, only to be sent off late on for kicking an opponent in retaliation after being hacked throughout the game. Red cards then carried no automatic ban; FIFA’s disciplinary committee ruled on a case-by-case basis, and the other player dismissed in the same match was suspended. But after Chilean President Jorge Alessandri backed a petition for Garrincha to play, and Peru’s President Manuel Prado reportedly phoned the referee to soften his testimony, the committee let him off with a warning. Garrincha played in the final, Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1 and the trophy was retained. Until this week, it stood as the only time a red-carded player played in his team’s next World Cup match. 1973: FIFA, Pinochet and the match with no opponent Weeks after General Augusto Pinochet’s coup toppled Chile’s socialist government of Salvador Allende in September 1973, Chile were due to host the Soviet Union in a World Cup qualifying playoff at Santiago’s Estadio Nacional – a stadium the military government was using as a detention centre, where thousands of political prisoners were held, tortured and killed. The Soviets told FIFA they could not play in the blood-stained stadium and requested a different venue.
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