Rio Ferdinand has defended his reaction to the controversy over Folarin Balogun’s suspended World Cup ban, saying the decision from FIFA is not right.
Balogun was shown a red card in USA’s last 32 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina after a VAR intervention.
That decision ruled him out of the upcoming last 16 meeting with Belgium, that was until FIFA decided to suspend his ban and make him available.
It transpired that the White House contacted FIFA, urging them to review Balogun’s ban, and the striker has duly seen his punishment lessened.
The decision has been met with anger across the football world, with the Belgian federation ‘astonished’ by the move and Gary Neville declaring that it ‘absolutely stinks.’
A statement from UEFA on the decision included: ‘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.
‘We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.’
Seemingly backing the decision was Ferdinand, who reposted the news of the suspended ban with clapping emojis.
However, the former England defender has now said that he thinks the decision is wrong and he was purely excited to see Balogun play again.
‘The news that broke today was off the pitch with Flo Balogun, his red card being turned around. He was obviously suspended and that changed,’ he said on Rio Ferdinand Presents. ‘I actually welcomed it on X with a clap.
‘The context of that was more about, me wanting to see the best players playing. That’s all I was caring about the football, for what I want to see and the spectacle of the game.
‘Now is it right? No. Have we seen it before? Yes. Cristiano Ronaldo it happened to going into this tournament.
‘The way things are going, I think it’s Article 27, it was used for Ronaldo and the same one was used for Balogun.’
Ronaldo picked up a three-match ban last year, which would have seen him banned for Portugal’s opening two games at the World Cup.
However, the superstar forward saw two of those games suspended and sat out just one, allowing him to feature.
Like many, Ferdinand questioned why this FIFA ruling is being applied to certain cases.
‘Is it the stature of the player that may determine the outcome? That’s wrong,’ he said.
FIFA’s explanation of their decision read: ‘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.
‘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.’
Belgium manager Rudi Garcia responded: ‘I didn’t know that at the World Cup the 5th of July is actually the first of April. It’s April Fools.
‘We’re not defending the national team or the federation, we are defending football, integrity. It’s the first time in World Cup history that such a decision has been taken.’