UEFA says FIFA 'crossed a red line' with Balogun red card U-turn at World Cup

July 6 : European soccer body UEFA lashed out on Monday at FIFA's decision to suspend a U.S. striker's World Cup red-card ban, saying world soccer's governing body had "crossed a red line" after President Donald Trump personally intervened in the case.

The decision sent shockwaves through the World Cup and thrust FIFA's disciplinary process into the spotlight, prompting an angry response led by Belgium, who play the U.S. on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.

It also ensured that one of the tournament's biggest talking points will centre not on tactics or team selection, but on the relationship between the sport's governing body and political power.

FIFA cleared U.S. striker Folarin Balogun to play after Trump personally urged FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review the case.

"We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision," UEFA said in a statement on Monday, adding that it "crossed a red line". 

"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."

The high-profile intervention by UEFA echoed criticism from some leading lights of the sport. 

"This is our sport, not theirs," said former Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp. 

"If Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino really sorted this out between themselves, it is madness; it calls everything into question. These two people (Trump and Infantino), who know nothing about football, should have absolutely nothing to do with this."

The head of the German football association said the "integrity of the competition and the credibility of FIFA are at stake." As criticism spilled over into the political sphere, the European Commissioner