Howard Webb, England's top refereeing official, has spoken out against FIFA's decision to overturn the red card handed to United States forward Folarin Balogun during FIFA World Cup 2026.

Webb told the Daily Mail he was deeply troubled by the reversal, warning that the episode hands ammunition to those who question the integrity of the game. "I was really troubled by it," he said. "We know that there was pressure placed by a politician onto FIFA because that was admitted, and we know that the suspension was taken away through a process which seemingly didn't exist before the tournament started."

Political pressure and an opaque process

Webb made clear that what disturbed him most was not the outcome itself but the manner in which it was reached. He pointed to the open acknowledgement that a politician had applied pressure on FIFA — and that the mechanism used to lift Balogun's suspension appeared to have no precedent within the tournament's existing framework.

For Webb, the danger lies in what such episodes do to public perception. He argued that in today's social-media environment, any controversial decision is no longer judged merely on whether it was right or wrong — it is immediately scrutinised for hidden motives.

"Far too often now, decisions are viewed as correct or corrupt by people who want to type all over social media," Webb said. "They try to draw inferences around decisions they don't agree with. What's the motivation behind that decision?"

Conspiracy theories fill the vacuum

Webb cautioned that when a process lacks transparency, it creates space for damaging narratives to take hold. "When you get that type of situation, it opens up space for people to think, 'Ha ha! You see, this sort of thing's happening all the time behind the scenes'," he said. "And it's really not, in my experience."

The refereeing chief's comments reflect broader concerns about how football's governing bodies handle decisions under political scrutiny — particularly at the sport's showpiece event, where the stakes and the watching audience are at their highest.