FIFA under pressure to give English defender same treatment as US strike Folarin Baloguna after red card

After FIFA overturned United States striker Florian Balogun’s red card suspension in a shock decision, a similar treatment request has been made for another team’s player.

It is for England’s defender Jarell Quansah.

The Liverpool defender was given a red card during a nail-biting match with Mexico.

Labour MP Noah Law thus wrote to FIFA president Gianni Infantino that it was never a question that Quansah should be sent off after his tackle.

But the football association's credibility hangs on treating each nation equally.

So, that means the rules must be applied equally for all the players, as happened in the Balogun case, which made him the first player to escape a compulsory one-match ban at the 2026 World Cup.

"We know that a similar situation arose earlier in the competition when United States forward Folarin Balogun received a red card during the Round of 32.”

Law continued, "The integrity of any major international tournament depends not only on players and officials adhering to the rules but also on those rules being applied equally to all participating nations.”

"I am sure we will be unable to justify a situation in which one player benefits from a delayed suspension while another, in materially similar circumstances, does not,” he added.

"At a time when our multilateral system and the international rules-based order are under threat, I urge you to treat this matter with the utmost seriousness,” the letter read.

FIFA’s decision on Balogun following US president Donald Trump’s intervention, however, drew much scorn and criticism.