Meunier condemns World Cup in the US because football was not a priority

The Belgian defender Thomas Meunier, who is now a Sunderland player, has in an interview with The Athletic strongly complained to FIFA about the organisation of the World Cup in the US, which he says did not treat football as a priority earlier this summer.

Balogun incident and political interference

Meunier points to the situation surrounding Folarin Balogun, who received a red card and according to the rules should not have been allowed to play in the knockout match against Belgium. FIFA lifted Balogun's suspension after a phone conversation between the American president Donald Trump and FIFA chief Gianni Infantino. Trump later openly stated that he arranged the acquittal.

"For me, football and politics don't have to go together, but football reflects what people think. You hear it in the stands, with racism, with many more things. So is it really possible to keep football and politics separate?", says Meunier.

Result and broader criticism

Sportingly it mattered little: the Red Devils still won 4-1, but Meunier is dissatisfied. "As long as politicians do the best for the people, there is not much to worry about. But when politics, I won't use the word ‘corrupt’, but it goes against sport… then it is dangerous. We have seen that with Balogun. The consequences fell on his plate, even though he never asked for them," says Meunier.

He sees the incident as exemplary for the whole tournament. "I think this event is symbolic of the entire tournament – driven by capitalism, entertainment and money. This World Cup was the dark side of traditional football. America has the infrastructure to host a World Cup every year, if they just stick to football. The problem is that football was not the top priority at this tournament," he concludes.

In an ideal world sport would remain completely separate from political influence, but the Walloon marathon wonder acknowledges that this is sometimes inevitable. He continues to advocate for a clearer separation between sport and politics to safeguard the integrity of the game.