The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) has denied filing an appeal against the decision to lift the suspension of US striker Folarin Balogun ahead of the game in the round of 16 at the World Cup tonight.
In a statement on social media, the RBFA claims that it had only requested additional information from FIFA. This request was interpreted as an official appeal by the organisers of the World Cup.
"After learning through media reports of FIFA’s decision to lift the automatic suspension of player Balogun, the RBFA sent a letter to FIFA requesting a copy of the decision, an explanation of the process that had been followed, and setting out its position regarding the applicable regulations," the statement read.
"As its only response, FIFA sent a letter to the RBFA stating that it considered this correspondence to constitute an appeal, that a judge had been appointed, and that the RBFA had only a few hours to complete that appeal. No information whatsoever was provided by FIFA."
According to the RBFA, FIFA might be deliberately sabotaging any potential appeal it could file. By interpreting the request for additional information as an official complaint, has guaranteed that the appeal will be rejected.
"While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, FIFA itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible. All of this occurred while FIFA simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA’s legitimate requests," the RBFA point out.
Missing slides
The RBFA further addresses reports indicating that FIFA deliberately removed a part of the pregame briefing every team receives ahead of a game at the World Cup. According to the statement, the section concerning automatic suspension of players had been omitted from the version the Belgian national team was shown.
FIFA did not explain why the slides were missing, despite requests from the RBFA.
"To be clear, as of this moment, the RBFA has still not received any decision or any explanation from FIFA regarding this matter. It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player's eligibility for the upcoming match," the statement continues.
"Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole."
