The German government has stated that it will not refer to the controversies surrounding political influence in the context of the World Cup as a “scandal.” Vice government spokesman Steffen Meyer told the dts Nachrichtenagentur on Wednesday that the government does not wish to adopt such terminology. However, he asserted the general belief that “the role of politics is not on the playing field, but decisions must be made on the field.” He added that this had occurred in this case and would certainly continue to happen at the World Cup. When pressed about whether the Chancellor had the phone number of FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, the spokesman declined to answer. At its core, the incident involves the reversal of a red card suspension against US forward Folarin Balogun ahead of the World Cup round of sixteen match against Belgium. US President Donald Trump had previously confirmed that he had asked Infantino to review the situation, though he denied taking direct influence over the decision. The case caused global excitement, but the reversal of the suspension had no sporting consequences, as Belgium eliminated the USA 4-1 even without Balogun.
Politics
