How Textor's baseless claim became Trump ammo in Balogun case

How Textor's baseless claim became Trump ammo in Balogun case What seemed to be just a dispute in Brazil’s sports courts ended up spilling over, years later, into the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Trump’s request to overturn the red card shown to United States forward Folarin Balogun was based on fake news that originated in Brazil in 2024 and ended up circulating in the U.S. in recent days by distorting information about Brazilian referee Raphael Claus. Understand the case During the match between the United States and Bosnia in the Round of 32 of the World Cup, Folarin Balogun was sent off by referee Raphael Claus. Immediately after the match, a rumor began circulating in the U.S. soccer community that the Brazilian referee had been investigated in a match-fixing scheme in his country. The New York Post even claimed that Claus had been summoned by a parliamentary inquiry committee in 2024 over match manipulation and that clubs, “especially Botafogo,” had expressed concern about his irregular cards. What actually happened? The story that reached the United States was a distortion of what really happened in Brazil. Let’s break it down! The Betting Inquiry Committee The Senate committee was set up in 2024 to investigate allegations of match-fixing made by Botafogo SAF owner John Textor regarding the 2023 Brazilian Championship. Raphael Claus’s role The referee was not under investigation. He was summoned by the Senate inquiry committee only as a witness, but his testimony never took place because compliance was not mandatory. The committee limited itself to asking then-head of refereeing Wilson Seneme questions about him. Textor’s allegations At the STJD, the accusations gained no traction due to a lack of solid evidence. Textor’s suspicion about Claus was only that he had been assigned to work alongside video referee Daiane Muniz more often than normal. Trump and FIFA’s response The contradictions in Textor’s allegations and the fact that Claus had never been investigated were ignored. The distorted version even reached Scott Goodwin, a fund manager and one of the main donors to U.S. Soccer. According to the New York Times, he was the one who passed the false information on to Donald Trump’s officials. Based on that, the U.S. president admitted he had called FIFA president Gianni Infantino to ask for Balogun’s punishment to be reviewed, treating the Brazilian referee as a suspect: “All I did was ask for a review, because I didn’t think it was a foul. I didn’t tell FIFA what to do. The committee made the right decision. It’s unfair to leave out one of the best U.S. players. That referee is a little suspicious. If you check his past… I don’t want to say that, because I don’t like creating controversy, but very suspicious,” Trump said. The intervention had an effect, and FIFA’s disciplinary committee cleared Balogun to face Belgium in the Round of 16. Trying to ease the fallout, Gianni Infantino released a statement confirming Trump’s call, but denied any breach of the organization’s autonomy: “During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and that is a principle I will always defend.” On the field, with Balogun in the starting lineup, the United States ended up being thrashed by Belgium this Monday (6), bringing the country’s World Cup campaign to an end. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.