64 years before Balogun, Garrincha was also pardoned by FIFA at a World Cup | OneFootball

64 years before Folarin Balogun, Brazilian Garrincha was allowed to play a World Cup final despite a semi-final red. The parallel has resurfaced amid the United States forward’s case at the 2026 tournament.

According to L'Équipe, Balogun should have missed the United States’ last-16 tie against Belgium after being sent off in the previous round, but FIFA suspended the ban following a call from Donald Trump. The episode has been framed as a flagrant case of interference by the US president, and it has angered the international press.

In 1962, Garrincha was sent off in the semi-finals yet still played in the showpiece. Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1, with the winger on the pitch and without Pelé, who was injured early in the tournament.

At that World Cup, a one-match suspension after a red card was not automatic, though the five other players dismissed all served it. Garrincha avoided a ban in part because linesman Esteban Marino, who had flagged his foul, failed to attend the disciplinary hearing and appeared to have left the country.

The report also notes heavy lobbying by the Brazilian delegation in Chile, including Prime Minister Tancredo Neves, and that FIFA president Stanley Rous was said to have intervened. The governing body’s website records a petition backed by Jorge Alessandri, Chile’s president until 1964, urging that Garrincha be allowed to play the final.

Source: L'Équipe