FIFA did something on July 5 that nobody thought was possible: it suspended a red card ban for a player in the middle of a World Cup. The beneficiary was USMNT striker Folarin Balogun, and the fallout has touched everything from European football governance to a Solana-based meme token bearing his name.

Here’s what happened. Balogun received a straight red card on July 1 during the US group stage match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under FIFA’s own disciplinary rules, that type of red card carries an automatic one-match suspension that is typically non-appealable. The next match was a round-of-16 clash against Belgium on July 6. Balogun should have been watching from the stands.

Instead, FIFA invoked Article…