Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has criticized what he termed "Euro tears" following FIFA's decision to suspend the red card ban for USMNT player Folarin Balogun, allowing him to play against Belgium. Portnoy suggested the strong European reaction, including complaints from UEFA, stems from a fear of the United States becoming a dominant force in soccer.
During an appearance on FS1's "Wake Up Barstool," Portnoy stated that he had not witnessed such a level of public outcry since the Deflategate controversy and the Connor Stalions scandal in Michigan. He characterized the European response as "whimpery" and legally challenged the decision.
"People say, ‘Oh, you don’t like Trump,’ and this and that. No, no, no, no. They don’t like that we’re getting good at soccer, boys," Portnoy said. "Europe is petrified because if we’re good at soccer, they got nothing."
Portnoy posited that America's global standing as a powerful nation, coupled with its past interventions in world wars and its success in sports like hockey, fuels this dynamic. "We are the United States. We’re the bully, we’re the tough guy, and this is the one sport we’ve never paid attention to," he added. "We went up, we ripped hockey from Canada and shoved them in a locker. Now, if we take soccer from the rest of the world, they got nothing."
Portnoy first alluded to the potential overturning of Balogun's red card ban in an X post on Sunday. On Monday's "Wake Up Barstool," co-host Troopz questioned if former President Donald Trump was the source for this information, a suggestion Portnoy did not deny.
It was later confirmed that Trump had contacted FIFA President Gianni Infantino regarding the ruling. Infantino stated that while he received a call from Trump, he maintained the decision was not influenced by the former president. "Yes, I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States, and on this matter, I did receive a call from President Donald Trump, just as I receive calls from heads of state, government officials, football stakeholders and business executives from around the world on many different issues," Infantino said.
UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, also issued a statement expressing strong disapproval of the suspended red card, calling the decision "unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable."