Belgian football federation refuses to back Infantino’s FIFA re-election bid

The federation said its decision was based on two “fundamental pillars” on which FIFA had so far failed to demonstrate transparency.

The first relates to the FIFA Forward Enterprise project, which was shelved after criticism. The RBFA said several important decisions and assessments concerning the project had not been supported by sufficient justification, raising questions about the transparency and governance of the process.

It said it remained aligned with UEFA in seeking clear answers about FIFA’s decision-making and next steps.

The second issue concerns the red card shown to US forward Folarin Balogun during the World Cup, a case in which the Belgian federation said it was directly involved. FIFA had suspended the red card after US President Donald Trump urged Infantino to review the case.

Despite explicit requests for a clear justification of the decisions taken and clarification about how similar situations would be handled in the future, the federation said it had yet to receive a satisfactory response.

“For the Belgian Football Association, it is essential that such cases are handled transparently and rigorously, in the interests of FIFA, good governance and the credibility of international football, with clear guarantees for the future,” it said.

The federation has asked FIFA to place the Balogun case on the agenda of the next FIFA Council meeting on Oct. 15. RBFA President Pascale Van Damme is a member of the council.

“My team at the RBFA communicated calmly and constructively with FIFA, during and after the World Cup, to obtain clarification in the Balogun case,” Van Damme said.

“Two months after the events, we note that our questions remain unanswered,” she added.

Van Damme said the federation was seeking the necessary explanations and wanted to explore possible improvements to FIFA’s existing procedures so similar cases could be handled “clearly, consistently and efficiently” in the future.