After four weeks of dazzling action on the pitch, it may be an off-field scandal that comes to define this summer’s World Cup. Fifa’s decision to allow America’s star striker, Folarin Balogun, to play in a last-16 match against Belgium, despite having been sent off in the previous game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, is in clear breach of the association’s own rules. The move has been greeted with outrage pretty much across the board.

Extraordinarily, Fifa, international football’s governing body, has not only so far declined to give any detailed reasoning for its decision to suspend what would be a standard one game ban following Balogun red card. The reversal appears to result from direct pressure from the White House. Media reports suggest that Donald Trump made three calls to Fifa, starting from Wednesday, to ensure that the red card was overturned. The White House has said that the call was made to understand why Balogun was sent off and the reason for the suspension.

Whether Balogun deserved to be sent off is debatable. It’s also of secondary importance when compared to the the potential reverberations of this seismic intervention from Fifa.

Naturally, the decision has been met with anger and bewilderment from the wider footballing community outside the US, not least by the Belgians, who must now prepare to face the US men’s national soccer team’s (USMNT) most dangerous player with 24 hours notice. The Belgian FA’s statement promising to explore “all potential options” in the name of “[safeguarding] the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport”, suggests that they have no intention of taking this lying down.

Uefa, the governing body for football in Europe, has released a statement expressing “our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision”.

The statement said that the one-match suspension rule following a red card is “not a discretionary option”. “It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.”

Zooming out from the immediate fallout, this episode feels like a microcosm for the health of global football more broadly. In simple terms, this appears to be a case where an apparently settled disciplinary decision has been reversed due to political lobbying. In that context, the White House’s alleged intervention has prompted familiar and uncomfortable questions about the disciplinary authority of Fifa, bringing ever more attention to the opacity of the organisation’s processes.

Scrutiny must particularly fall on Gianni Infantino. Keen observers will be aware of the Fifa chairman’s form when it comes to sucking up to the Maga regime. Despite maintaining an official stance of political neutrality, the build up to this World Cup has been defined by images of Infantino pandering to Donald Trump’s ego, by parading in Maga hats and awarding him concocted peace prizes.

But this latest act may finally prove a bridge too far. Infantino now appears to be actively undermining the sporting integrity of the very game he leads to keep in with the US president.

A question of trust

Ultimately, this story boils down to a question of trust and sporting integrity, two themes that sit at the heart of my own research into football support as a form of living heritage. Unlike monuments or historic buildings, living heritage survives because communities continually transmit specific values and experiences across generations.

The World Cup is one of the clearest examples of this phenomenon. Its cultural significance does not arise solely from unforgettable matches, moments and performances. Rather, it emerges from the rituals and shared experiences that surround the tournament: supporters travelling across continents, families gathering to watch matches together, stories passed between generations. And, most importantly, the collective belief that the competition not only represents the ultimate prize of international football – but a fundamentally fair one.

That belief in fairness is particularly vital here. The World Cup matters because billions of people accept that victories and defeats are earned within a legitimate competitive framework. They celebrate triumphs because they broadly trust the competition. They accept disappointment because they trust the rules. Those shared assumptions underpin the tournament as a form of living cultural heritage.

When Fifa so flagrantly departs from established procedures and appears to willingly submit to political influence, that foundation is fundamentally damaged.

Once supporters begin to question not simply the outcome of individual refereeing decisions, but the legitimacy of the system itself, it corrodes the implicit trust and uncomplicated beauty of the game itself. Once lost, those things are exceptionally difficult to rebuild.

That is why governance can never be dismissed as a dry administrative concern. Transparent procedures, accountable institutions and genuine independence are the pillars upon which the legitimacy of the World Cup and football at large rests.

Football’s greatest tournament derives its power from the belief that every nation competes according to the same rules. If Fifa is prepared to abandon that principle in the face of political pressure it risks sacrificing something far more valuable than its own credibility. It risks undermining the very trust that has made the World Cup the most important sporting event on Earth.

Folarin Balogun’s availability against Belgium may make headlines for a day or two. The far bigger story is that Fifa has invited the world to wonder whether the rules of the World Cup are still applied equally at all.

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

It’s that time of year again: the school year is about to end, and as soon as it’s over it’ll begin again.

You might be thinking you have a long summer ahead of you, but in reality, you’ll blink and the back to school rush will be here.

Every year it’s the same thing: trying to meet the manic rush to buy school uniform before term time begins. And every year, it’s expensive.

Whether your little one grows faster than you can say ‘growing pain’ or they come home from school every day looking like they’ve been rolling around in a barn, you’ll know the struggle of buying enough school uniform to not break the bank and to stop yourself feeling like you work at a laundromat.

To save you from either fate, we’ve rounded up the best of the summer uniform that’s available to buy now, so you can start stockpiling ahead of the new school year.

From 20% off at M&S, to a pack of five school shirts for under £10, this is the most affordable school uniform to get your hands on now. Seriously, get moving.

Good afternoon and welcome to fourth-round coverage of Arthur Fery versus Grigor Dimitrov on day eight at Wimbledon.

This is a clash between two wild cards, as Fery, the last Briton standing, goes up against the  former world No 3 and 2014 semi-finalist.

Fery’s run to his maiden grand slam fourth round has been somewhat of a fairytale. The 23-year-old, who entered the tournament ranked 114 in the world, is inside the top 100 in the live rankings (91) after registering four-set victories against Damir Dzumhur and Otto Virtanen in rounds one and two respectively. 

The epic five-set victory against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, the Eastbourne champion, in the third round on Saturday was the biggest win of Fery’s life. Fery came back from a set down to win 2-6, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6, 7-6 in four hours and 39 minutes on Court 18. 

The court assignment for the meeting with Bergs raised eyebrows, but as Fery’s two previous wins came on the atmospheric stadium, the call made sense and ultimately paid off. Centre Court now awaits for the Briton who said “it’s time to move on” after his epic victory on Saturday. “I will keep those great memories of Court 18,” said Fery. “Playing on a bigger court will be a new experience. Now that I’ve had a few matches I feel ready for it.”

Dimitrov was also involved in a five-set epic of his own in the third round. The 35-year-old Bulgarian was up two sets against 2021 runner-up Matteo Berrettini before eventually closing out the match 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3. Dimitrov needed four sets to take down the 15th-seeded talented Czech Jakub Mensik in the second round and beat Australia’s Dane Sweeny in straights in round one.

On the prospect of facing Fery, Dimitrov said: I have seen him play. He’s a great competitor. He’s playing at home. I mean, second week, Wimbledon, big court. I can totally get it [smiling]. No, I’m going to approach this match as every other match. Nothing has changed on my side.

“I’m just really going to focus on my side of the net and what I want to be doing out there and achieving on the court. Try to find a way around that match. You know, that’s going to be for me, as I said, I have seen him play. He’s a great player. Yeah, I’m sure we are both going to be ready for that match.”

Madonna’s latest release looks poised to land the Queen of Pop her first UK number one album in more than a decade.

On Monday evening, the Official Charts Company revealed that the Grammy winner was on her way to top the UK albums chart for the first time since 2012’s MDNA (subsequent studio albums, 2015’s Rebel Heart and 2019’s Madame X were kept off the top spot by her future collaborator Sam Smith and Bruce Springsteen, respectively).

Her closest competition is newcomer Sienna Spiro, whose debut album was also released on Friday, and is currently on track to reach number two.

But a number one album isn’t Madonna’s only cause for “celebration” now Confessions II is out in the world.

Danceteria is said to be on track to peak at 20, which would mark her first solo song in the UK top 20 since Celebration back in 2009 (a collaboration with The Weeknd, Popular, did go top 10 back in 2023, though).

The new song is named after the former New York nightspot of the same name, and sees Madonna reflecting on her pre-fame days, name-checking many of the people she rubbed shoulders with in that era.

American actress Zendaya wore a shimmering white dress as she attended the world premiere of The Odyssey.

The Challenger’s star’s outfit was white at the top and silver at the bottom, giving a water effect, at the event in London’s Leicester Square.

She was greeted with a massive cheer as she appeared alongside her husband and co-star, Tom Holland, 30, who wore all black.

Her gown, designed by Schiaparelli, emulated Ancient Greece, with her corset mimicking a marble statue.

Other stars at the premiere included Anne Hathaway, who recently announced she is pregnant with her third child, and who wore a blue dress with a flower-like feature at the top.

Rope and pleating accessories were commonplace on the red carpet, in a nod to the film’s setting of Greece. No togas were spotted – much to our disappointment.

Matt Damon, who wore a grey suit, and Charlize Theron, who wore a black dress with long white gloves.

Twilight star Robert Pattinson, who also features in the film, wore a grey suit at the event, and Lupita Nyong’o, who plays both Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra in the movie, wore a white dress.

Director Sir Christopher Nolan was also at the premiere, wearing a black suit.

The epic fantasy action film, which is also written by Sir Christopher, is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic The Odyssey.

Damon stars as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, and the movie chronicles his long and perilous journey home after the Trojan War and his encounters with mythical beings as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Penelope, played by Hathaway.

Holland plays Telemachus, Pattinson plays Antinous, Theron plays Calypso, and Zendaya plays Athena.

Sir Christopher said in an interview on US chat show The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that he first encountered The Odyssey during a school play.

He said it was a story that ‘we all kind of know a bit about’, but he had adapted it so fans could see it in a fresh light.

The Odyssey will be released in cinemas on July 17.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: Ed Sheeran leads star-studded arrivals as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding gets underway

MORE: Michael Jackson biopic broke major Hollywood record – but it’s a lazy win

MORE: Every celeb who’s confirmed they’re going to Taylor Swift’s wedding

• How much is David Beckham set to pocket from his World Cup brand deals? Take on our quiz in our newsletter HERE 
• See more Daily Mail on Google – save us as a Preferred Source

By MIKE KEEGAN, CHIEF SPORTS REPORTER and CRAIG HOPE, CHIEF FOOTBALL REPORTER and LUKE AUGUSTUS, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Published: 20:48 BST, 6 July 2026 | Updated: 21:40 BST, 6 July 2026

The FA are considering appealing Jarell Quansah’s red card from Sunday night’s dramatic 3-2 World Cup last-16 win over Mexico.

Advertisement

It comes in light of FIFA’s controversial U-turn over USA striker Folarin Balogun’s sending off against Bosnia-Herzegovina last week following president Donald Trump‘s intervention.

Quansah was given his marching orders on 54 minutes after a VAR review for a challenge on Mexico’s Jesus Gallardo.

The defender is now set to serve a one-game ban, meaning he misses Saturday’s quarter-final with Norway, but the FA haven’t ruled out appealing against it with internal discussions ongoing and all options open.

Meanwhile, there is hope that Reece James will be able to train this week and could be available for the weekend. He has been nursing a hamstring injury and has missed the last three matches.

Advertisement

We also understand Djed Spence left the Azteca Stadium with pain in his lower leg and his condition will be monitored in the coming days. 

The FA are considering whether or not to appeal against Jarell Quansah’s (right) red card

Reece James (right) could be fit for England’s quarter-final clash with Norway on Saturday

Advertisement

Spence came from the bench in the 75th minute and, if Quansah’s one-match ban stands, he would be one of the candidates to start at right back. 

Tuchel will hope that his post-match discomfort eases before the squad leave for Miami on Thursday.

Reflecting on Quansah’s red card, former England internationals Gary Neville and Ian Wright were in agreement that his dismissal was the correct one, but said the FA should appeal it in light of the Balogun U-turn – even joking that outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer should get involved.

Balogun was meant to miss the World Cup co-hosts last-16 tie with Belgium (Tuesday, 1am BST) after being given a straight red card during the USA’s 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last 32.

Advertisement

But in farcical scenes, the former Arsenal striker’s ban was suspended, freeing him up to play, after Trump rang FIFA president Gianni Infantino. 

‘It’s [Quansah’s] a red but I think we should still appeal it because people are getting it overturned now,’ Wright told The Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.

Ian Wright believes the FA should try to appeal Quansah’s red card after the Balogun U-turn

‘If you look at Balogun’s one, Balogun isn’t going in to break his ankle. It’s just clumsy the way it’s happened.

Advertisement

‘I think Quansah has gone over the ball a bit but like he [Balogun] has got away with it so why can’t England as this has opened up Pandora’s box.

‘I think Keir Starmer makes a call and even [French President Emmanuel] Macron for [Michael] Olise [who was booked in France’s World Cup win against Paraguay]. Make a call.’

NEW: How much is David Beckham set to pocket from his World Cup brand deals? Take on our quiz in our newsletter HERE 

Donald Trump’s performance in calling the Fifa president and asking for a review of the red card for the US’ star striker which was due to keep him out of a crucial match was even more extraordinary. It was brazen. It was blatant. It was as if the most powerful man in the world was trying to fix the result of a football match.

Even more extraordinarily, Fifa – presumably on the orders of its president Gianni Infantino who, ridiculously once awarded Trump a Fifa world peace prize – gave in and somehow shunted Folarin Balogun’s suspension into the long grass so he could play.

Rules are crucial to sport. In fact, sport ceases to be sport if the rules are not stuck to or are not fairly applied. Indeed, football has brought in video-assisted refereeing to make sure the rules are properly being followed and nothing is being missed or misinterpreted.

Balogun was, like England’s Jarrell Quansah, a little unlucky to be dismissed. He wasn’t malicious, but his challenge, with his studs going down his opponent’s calf and then ending on his foot, did seriously endanger the other player. After consultation with VAR, the referee decided it was worth a red card – who is Trump, who admitted he did not understand the concept of a red card, to challenge such a decision?

Why doesn’t Trump be fair and challenge Quansah’s dismissal?

And, if Trump is so concerned about fair play, why hasn’t he called up Fifa and demanded retrospective action against Paraguay? As much as everyone admires the plucky underdog, their behaviour against France – slapping, punching, exaggerating and even attempting to vandalise the penalty spot – was disgraceful and was apparently missed by a weak referee.

But if Trump can get the US’ goalscorer reinstated despite his ban, it shows that Fifa has no interest in applying the rules fairly for the good of everyone who plays this beautiful game.

Manchester United have appeared to introduce three new ‘values’ at the club ahead of the new Premier League season

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has helped oversee three key ‘values’ introduced at Manchester United as the club prepares for the new season. United are about to return to pre-season training following their summer break, as they ramp things up for the new campaign under manager Michael Carrick.

The Reds appointed Carrick as the club’s permanent manager towards the end of last season after the former midfielder guided United to third place in the Premier League table as interim boss.

United will return to the Champions League next season and will have the belief of being able to challenge the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City for the Premier League title.

Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our United WhatsApp group by clicking HERE. You can also join our United Facebook page by clicking HERE and don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE.

Ratcliffe and Ineos have made numerous changes behind-the-scenes at United since assuming control of football operations at Old Trafford in 2024.

The latest update has seen Ineos introduce three key ‘values’ that the club are aspiring to adhere to for the foreseeable future, The Sun report.

United have listed ‘badge’, ‘bravery’ and ‘spirit’ as the club’s new core values, which has now been spotted on their official website.

“Badge – Earn the badge, every day,” United’s club website states. “Respect our history and heritage. Be best in class and deliver to the standards expected of Manchester United. No one is bigger than the club.

“Bravery – Be bold, be brave, and take calculated risks. Do things differently and innovate. Lead by example and do what’s right for the club, even when it’s hard.

“Spirit – Embody the spirit of Manchester United. Show strength of character, act with passion, and fight back, no matter what.”

FOLLOW OUR MAN UNITED FB PAGE! Latest news and analysis via the MEN’s Manchester United Facebook page

The summer is also expected to be dominated by the transfer window, with a host of new players being linked with moves to United.

Atalanta star Ederson has agreed to join United this summer, with an initial £35million fee already being set, accompanied by a further £3.8million in add-ons.

United will travel to Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Republic of Ireland and Poland during their pre-season campaign.

Carrick and Co. will face Wrexham, Rosenborg, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Leeds United and AC Milan during their preparations for the new season.

This will all be the build-up to the Premier League opener on August 22, which will see United travel to the MKM Stadium to face Hull City.

Europe is in the middle of something that no longer feels exceptional. Temperature records have broken across the continent, hitting 40°C and above in Germany, France, Hungary and Spain – and costing hundreds of lives.

Where I live in Scandinavia, this kind of temperature is more unusual. Yet Denmark also recently joined the list when 37°C was recorded in the village of Beldringe, north of Åarhus, in late June.

This was the country’s hottest day since records began in 1874, exceeding the previous all-time high by more than half a degree.

For many people, the instinct is to respond using the language of adaptation – talking about things like cooling centres and the need for public health warnings. In other words, adjusting to the effects of climate change.

Adaptation matters – but it is the wrong frame for the more important question of mitigation. That is, whether we’re actually cutting the emissions that are making summers like this more likely and dangerous in the first place.

But is it climate change?

The Danish Meteorological Institute was careful to say a single record cannot be pinned on climate change alone, but that global warming made these temperatures more likely.

Findings that prove whether an extreme weather event is actually caused by human-induced climate change (known as attribution research) is blunter still: fossil-fuel emissions have made European heatwaves measurably more frequent and more intense.

To me, as an expert in environmental and climate law, this recent heatwave reinforces the fact that climate science and climate law are still evolving on separate tracks.

Climate modelling — which simulates Earth’s climate to understand how it is changing — is often disconnected from the climate laws that shape government decisions. And this disconnect is becoming a liability, weakening the legal case for faster climate action and, ultimately, increasing the human costs of climate change.

Climate modelling in law

Climate modelling can tell us how likely a 37°C day in Denmark has become in a warmed climate – a precision that law has historically lacked.

But when science can point to a specific heatwave and say this was made more likely by human emissions, that stops being an academic exercise and becomes evidence.

If legal systems begin treating each weather record (once it’s been attributed to climate change) as evidence that can be used to enforce targets, then maybe we might see less extreme and deadly heatwaves in the future.

And we already have the legal tools to make this happen.

EU climate law, for example, sets binding trajectories which mandate member states to reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030, and 90% by 2040. The Danish Climate Act commits to a 70% emissions cut across Denmark by 2030.

In 2019 we saw a glimpse of what is possible when science and law do work together.

Dutch courts ordered the Netherlands government to do more to meet the state’s emissions targets, relying in part on scientific evidence.

This was at a national level at first, but was actually the predecessor of the European Court of Human Rights’ 2024 decision which ruled that inadequate climate change mitigation can breach fundamental rights – a legal first.

So, the legal architecture is not missing. What is missing is the mechanism that connects climate science to legal enforcement in real time. Bringing modellers and lawmakers into the same room from the start could make this the rule, rather than the exception.

What now?

What is needed now is a steady supply of robust, standardised modelled evidence that courts, regulators and legislators can rely on. Denmark’s new record is precisely such a data point, a Nordic entry in an accumulating European case.

So, what are the practical steps from here?

Embed climate modelling directly into legislation. Treat carbon budgets – the caps governments set on their carbon emission – as legal limits rather than political preferences. And give scientific institutions a seat at the legislative table, not just a press release after the fact.

Above all, modellers and lawyers need to start working together. The 37°C record will not stand for long – it’s only going up.

The real test is whether our legal system treats each record as an isolated weather event, or as evidence in a case that grows stronger every summer.

This article was commissioned as part of a partnership between Videnskab.dk and The Conversation.