Seventy-two members of the European Parliament called on national football federations across the European Union to support an investigation into FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the governing body lifted a one-match suspension imposed on United States striker Folarin Balogun.

Balogun had received an automatic ban after being sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Donald Trump contacted Infantino on the following Thursday to press for the suspension to be overturned. Four days later, FIFA’s disciplinary committee cleared the striker to appear in an important match against Belgium. Infantino previously denied influencing the committee’s decision.

The lawmakers sent their request to the football federations of all 27 EU member countries. They argued that national associations subject to FIFA’s ethics rules should also seek accountability from senior officials. Renew Europe member Barry Andrews wrote the letter, describing the mid-tournament change to the red-card sanction as a breach of sporting justice and accusing FIFA of yielding to the Trump administration.

FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new letter. The United States fielded Balogun against Belgium but lost 4-1. Belgium’s players marked their fourth goal by imitating the U.S. president’s dancing, adding a visible political edge to a match already surrounded by questions about the disciplinary decision.

The July 8 appeal was the third letter sent by European lawmakers to FIFA within two weeks. Andrews had previously requested an investigation into whether Infantino violated FIFA’s political-neutrality rules. A separate letter from Renew member Petras Auštrevičius objected to FIFA allowing Russian participants at the Under-15 World Cup scheduled for October.

Those earlier initiatives attracted 50 and 44 signatures respectively. The latest request drew 72 lawmakers from six parliamentary groups, making it the broadest of the three parliamentary efforts described at that stage. The cross-group support did not itself begin a formal FIFA process; it asked national federations to join demands for one.

The dispute separates two questions that remained unresolved: why the disciplinary committee removed Balogun’s automatic suspension, and whether Infantino played any part after receiving Trump’s call. The lawmakers treated the sequence as grounds for independent scrutiny, while Infantino’s earlier denial rejected the allegation of intervention. No finding of misconduct had been reported. The letter therefore represented a political and governance challenge to FIFA, not a concluded judgment against its president or disciplinary committee.

The latest letter gained 22 more signatures than the earlier Infantino-neutrality request and 28 more than the under-15 tournament letter. Those comparisons show growing parliamentary support, but the signatories have no stated authority to reverse a FIFA disciplinary ruling. Their chosen route was to press national associations within the FIFA structure.