FIFA Refused To Give Lionel Messi Red Card For Same Thing Folarin Balogun Did

World Cup referees have been called out for showing major, laughable bias toward Lionel Messi and against the U.S.

U.S. men's soccer star Folarin Balogun was kicked out of Wednesday night's Round of 32 game against Bosnia. He was hit with a red card for landing his foot in the back of a Bosnia player's leg. The play went to VAR and a red card was awarded.

This means that Balogun has been kicked out of Wednesday night's game. If the USMNT were to advance, Balogun would miss the Round of 16 game, too.

It's a crushing, devastating blow to America's hopes.

Why is that a red card and other similar plays were not?

Earlier in the World Cup, Lionel Messi made direct contact to the back of a player's leg, with his cleats, and nothing in the shape of a red card was called.

FIFA called out for showing major bias against U.S.

Soccer fans are quick to point out that Messi got away with a very similar play earlier in the World Cup.

"Hey @FIFAcom where was VAR here???????????" Taylor Twellman shared on X.

Another fan wrote: "Why was Balogun given a red card but this isn't a red card?!?!"

Soccer fans remain furious with the apparent bias.

"You should need to punch somebody for a red card to be issued. Or have it be a 5 minute penalty. But to lose a guy for the entire game is insane. We may have to go to war if we lose this screw job," one fan wrote.

"Man, somebody help me. That foul looked incidental from Balogun, shouldn't a Red Card be given if there is either intention to foul, or an action that is aggressive and unsafe in nature? Didn't feel like Balogun was out of control or anything, just looked like it kind of happened," another added.

"It was a yellow card for sure, with his cleats up above the ankle. But the only reason his cleats were up is because of the contact made by Bosnia prior. No yellow was given initially, so a hard red is a really bad call," one fan added.

The World Cup refs will have questions to answer, that's for sure.

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This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 9:50 PM.