UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin also skipped the World Cup final because he was protesting FIFA’s decision to overturn the suspension of United States football player Folarin Balogun. That has only deepened the tension between the two football governing bodies and raised new questions about the relationship between sport and politics.
Ceferin had been expected to attend the final between Spain and Argentina. He had also been in the audience with members of the FIFA Council at the opening match of the tournament in Mexico City on June 11. But the UEFA chief changed his mind after FIFA’s disciplinary committee overturned a one-match suspension given to Balogun.
Balogun received a red card during the United States' Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 2. His suspension would have sidelined him for the team’s next match against Belgium. FIFA’s disciplinary committee then reversed the ban, allowing the striker to play in the match.
The decision apparently came after U.S. President Donald Trump approached FIFA president Gianni Infantino and asked that the suspension be overturned. FIFA has not explicitly said that the decision was influenced by the conversation, but UEFA and their UEFA members are angry at the findings.
UEFA also said the decision was “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable”. UEFA said FIFA “crossed a line by allowing, at the very least, the perception that political influence could influence a sporting disciplinary decision to be made in football”.
And a strong reaction from Belgium’s football federation was also to come. After Belgium fell to the United States 4-1 in the next round of the competition, Belgium sent the federation a message “Overturn this” and made its opposition to the decision clear.
Ceferin’s decision to miss the final is just the latest sign of the worsening friction between UEFA and FIFA. The two have already had a dispute over commercial and financial issues in world football.
Ceferin had been critical of FIFA’s ticket pricing policy before the World Cup and said that rising costs could push the sport away from its top fans. UEFA has also been very different with ticket pricing for Euro 2028, hosted in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Unlike FIFA, UEFA has ruled out dynamic pricing for its European Championship. UEFA also said that at least 40 per cent of tickets for Euro 2028 will cost £60 or less.
The Balogun case has since become more than a dispute over one red card. For UEFA, the episode has raised more fundamental questions about the independence of football’s disciplinary processes and political actors’ influence on sporting decisions.
Ceferin’s absence from the World Cup final has now added a strong symbolic dimension to the dispute, highlighting the increasingly frosty relationship between UEFA and FIFA at the highest level of international football.
