President Donald Trump confirmed that he requested a review of last week’s red card penalty given to U.S. forward Folarin Balogun during the World Cup, saying the penalty was “very unfair” and the referee responsible is “very suspect.”“I’m a person that loves sports and was a good athlete. And I understand sports really well. Really well. And that wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction,” he told reporters at the White House.Trump went on to say that he didn’t know what a red card was before the penalty against Balogun was made. Once he understood that it would take Balogun out of the next match, he personally intervened because “we have to have our best players.”“All I did, all I did, I asked for a review ’cause I didn’t think it was a foul. And again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled,” he said.Trump also called into question the integrity of the referee, while offering no details to support the accusation.“This referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his past,” he said. “I don’t want to say that because I don’t like to create controversy. But very suspect.”Trump’s confirmation of his intervention follows reports that he personally called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review Balogun’s case. European soccer body UEFA on Monday said FIFA’s later decision to suspend the red card “crossed a red line.”Asked later in the press conference if Trump pressuring FIFA to overturn a call sets a bad precedent wherein other powerful leaders might feel enabled to do the same, Trump distanced himself from his own meddling.“I had nothing to do with the decision,” he claimed.But other leaders have indeed already followed suit ― albeit so far only to make fun of both FIFA and Trump.Noah Law, a member of Parliament in the U.K., sent a letter to FIFA on Monday morning on behalf of England’s Jarell Quansah, who received a red card during England’s 3-2 win against Mexico on Sunday.“Whilst I believe it was right for Jarrell Quansah to have received this red card and that refereeing rules must be applied consistently, I believe it would be right to delay his suspension until after the completion of this World Cup,” Law wrote, noting Balogun was given similar treatment.Law proceeded to call out FIFA for undermining the integrity of the tournament by failing to apply rules equally to all participants. “At a time when our multilateral system and the international rules-based order is under threat, I urge you to treat this matter with the utmost seriousness,” Law concluded.