What’s the legal power behind the Balogun red card fight?
Disclaimer: The World Cup subreddits are inflamed by this issue, and I’m truly just curious how law + major sports corporations interpreting their own rules interact…
After FIFA suspended U.S. player Flo Balogun’s red card punishment, the NYT/Athletic put out this article saying that (among other things), the Trump admin quickly recruited lawyers who submitted “legal materials” to US Soccer, which then submitted a “body of work” to FIFA making its case.
I think it seems like FIFA’s own disciplinary code gave it leeway to either stand by the decision (Section 9 says “Decisions by the referee on the field of play are final and may not be reviewed by FIFA judicial bodies.”) but also to suspend the punishment, as they did (Section 27 says “The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.”).
So im curious about this:
(1) Putting aside whether there was blatant corruption or relationship management between Trump/FIFA, would there normally be a way to adjudicate the red card (i.e. through the court if arbitration for sport) and what damages could even be awarded? Is there even a good case unless FIFA had blatantly ignored its own rules?
(2) Given the CAS couldn’t turn back time anyway, is the threat from all these legal materials being developed more “if you don’t do what we want we will be really annoying and embarrassing in court” or is there some other soft power component in this I’m not understanding?