Norway’s football federation has asked FIFA to open independent scrutiny of three governance issues arising during the 2026 World Cup cycle: Folarin Balogun’s rescinded red card, the FIFA Forward Enterprise project and FIFA’s peace award for United States President Donald Trump.
Quick facts
- The Norwegian Football Federation approved the two formal requests unanimously at its August 7 assembly.
- One request goes to FIFA’s Ethics Committee; the other is addressed to the Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee.
- Norway wants reviews of Balogun’s disciplinary case, the proposed external commercialisation project and the political neutrality implications of the peace award.
- The Balogun decision came before the United States played Belgium at the 2026 World Cup.
The NFF said the filings form part of its longer-running work on governance standards and political neutrality in international football. It has not asked FIFA’s committees to reach a predetermined verdict, but to establish the facts and assess whether the organisation’s safeguards operated properly.
The Ethics Committee is being asked to examine whether FIFA president Gianni Infantino and other officials may have breached FIFA’s ethics rules. The request to the Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee focuses on whether FIFA’s decision-making, oversight arrangements and internal controls were adequate.
NFF president Lise Klaveness said the three matters raise the same central concern: whether FIFA’s influence or authority was used improperly, and whether mechanisms intended to prevent such conduct worked as designed.
Norway specifically wants an examination of whether the award given to Trump was compatible with FIFA’s political-neutrality obligations. It also seeks clarity on whether political intervention affected the independence of the disciplinary process in Balogun’s case.
Balogun, a United States international, had his red card overturned ahead of the Belgium fixture. The NFF has asked FIFA to determine whether the reversal was handled independently under the applicable disciplinary framework.
The federation’s third concern is FIFA Forward Enterprise, a project intended to place commercial rights connected with FIFA competitions into an external structure. Norway has questioned whether the initiative was developed without appropriate consultation of FIFA member associations.
Klaveness said the purpose was to establish the record and ensure accountability under FIFA’s own regulations. She said confidence in football depends on trust in its institutions, and serious questions should be considered openly and independently.
The requests emerged alongside reports alleging that the Democratic Republic of Congo should have been removed from the World Cup because goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi was allegedly ineligible. Mpasi has been under investigation since November 2025 over nationality issues and possible passport fraud, according to those reports.
