UEFA have released a statement heavily criticising FIFA's decision to allow USA striker Folarin Balogun against Belgium on Tuesday.
The former Arsenal striker was shown a straight red card during the USA's last 32 clash with Bosnia & Herzegovina for a studs up challenge on Tarik Muharemovic.
Balogun, who has scored three goals so far at the tournament, was given a one-match ban that should have ruled him out of featuring against Belgium in the next round. However, FIFA have made an unprecedented decision to allow the 25-year-old to feature in the round of 16.
The decision -- branded "incomprehensible" by UEFA -- came after reports emerged last week that U.S President Donald Trump personally put a call into FIFA chief Gianni Infantino to review the red card.
We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.
- UEFA on FIFA's decision to allow Folarin Balogun to play against Belgium.
FIFA exercised its right to put into effect an obscure ruling to allow Balogun to feature in Tuesday's World Cup knockout match.
The ruling states that football's international governing body is allowed to either fully or partially suspend the implementation of an on-pitch disciplinary measure.
Responding to the decision in a statement, UEFA said: "Yesterday's decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line.
"Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not. A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted.
"It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.
"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. Equally, such decision creates a precedent in the ongoing tournament, where similar situations will now require an equal treatment, to the detriment of the competition.
"Football is the most loved sport in the world because it is a beautiful game and is trusted because it is played everywhere with the same laws. A tournament is never a pure standalone and, if the tournament in question is the World Cup, it has the power to drive positive or negative consequences on the game as a whole.
"We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision."
