Introduction
Folarin Balogun put the United States ahead of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the World Cup’s round of 32 match on Wednesday night with his third goal of the tournament, then got a red card early in the second half that forced the Americans to play a man short.
Balogun scored a goal that counted in the 45th minute after Malik Tillman’s pass was deflected into his path by Bosnia’s Stjepan Radeljic with a sliding clearance attempt.
He later received a red card from Brazilian referee Raphael Claus for a foul in which he stepped on the ankle of Tarik Muharemovic. Claus didn’t initially signal a card but showed Balogun red after a video review.
Balogun is suspended for the round of 16 game against Belgium.
Claim
An Instagram page, BPD News, later claimed that President Donald Trump has threatened to cancel the rest of the World Cup matches if the red card issued to Balogun is not overturned.
In a post on Instagram on Friday, the news page claimed that the press statement from the US president reads: FIERY STATEMENT: President Trump is threatening to completely shut down the ongoing FIFA World Cup and pull the plug on all domestic matches unless tournament officials immediately overturn Folarin Balogun’s controversial red card.
In a Truth Social post issued online today, the President condemned the officiating as a highly political hit job designed to undermine American soccer on the global stage. “The Corrupt and Disgraceful FIFA Referees are trying to ruin American Soccer,” Trump stated, warning that the entire tournament relies strictly on the fair treatment of the United States Men’s National Team.
The administration is now demanding immediate intervention from soccer’s governing body, making it clear that America holds the ultimate leverage. The White House has emphasised it will not hesitate to pull the plug on the multi-billion-dollar event and shut down stadiums across the country if the star striker’s suspension stands.
FACTWATCH Nigeria also cited a copy of the alleged Truth Post by Trump, which was posted on Facebook.
Verification
First, a check on the Truth Social handle of Trump indicated that no such post was made by the president.
A further search on his Facebook and X platform pages did not bring up a similar post to confirm
There was no post from the White House, which further confirms the claim to be true.
Also, no reputable international news website has published a report that corroborated the claim as of 4 July 2026.
A close look at the screenshot of the alleged Truth Social post from Trump showed that the writing of the post does not fit in with original posts made by the US president.
Verdict
There is no concrete evidence supporting the claim that Trump recently threatened to cancel the rest of the World Cup matches if the red card issued to the US player is not overturned. Therefore the claim is FALSE.
