Trump confirms he asked Fifa to review Balogun ban

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0:06He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballon d 'Or award five times. He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football. And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right, Good Bad Billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

0:54FIFA has broken them to please Donald Trump. I asked a former vice president of FIFA why he thinks of spending a red card punishment for a year so a player on Team USA doesn't miss his country's next match in this tournament is a threat to the sport's very integrity. We hear from the breastfeeding mum who says she lost an opportunity for valuable business networking because young children aren't allowed in Amazon's warehouses. Will Marine Le Pen be allowed to run for the office of President of France next year? She'll find out later in the week. If you stay with us now, you'll hear what her party and her opponents are hoping for.

1:2750 years of wheelchair tennis with the man who helped to invent it. And as Christopher Nolan's Odyssey heads to cinemas, Professor Dame Mary Beard tells me why it's worth getting to know Homer's original. In boxing, we speak of the Queensbury rules. Cricket as a sport is so synonymous with the rulebook, we say rule-breaking isn't cricket, even when it isn't cricket that we're talking about. So what to make of the global rulemaker in one sport, soccer, in effect cancelling one of its own rules, apparently to curry favour with President Trump? Mr Trump confirmed that he had phoned Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, to complain that a red card served on US team member Valerian Balogun would make him ineligible to play in tonight's game against Belgium.

2:11Later, FIFA announced that the players' one-match suspension would itself be suspended for a year, by which time there'll be no World Cup matches for Balogun to be ineligible for. I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything. If they wouldn't allow a top player, maybe among the best players on the team, to play, I think it would have had a big stain. and I related just that feeling. I didn't tell him what to do. I can't tell him what to do.

2:43And I don't believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision and they made the right decision. President Trump on the Belgians challenged FIFA's ruling but their objections were dismissed. It's gone all the way up to Belgium's foreign minister, Maxime Prevel, who posted a video online about it. Well, as a former football referee myself, I've always been committed to upholding the rules and ensuring fair decisions. And this decision, let's be frank, raises a lot of questions. If it is really one phone call that led to such an incomprehensible decision, that would be a flagrant breach of the most basic rules of football and sports.

3:26And that would be very serious. Or, for instance, could FIFA continue to advocate for fair play with any credibility? So let's hope that the Belgium team will give the best answer on the ground in the coming hours. Well, our North American correspondent Nader Torfik is at a football watching party in New Jersey. Nader, the Belgians' appeal was dismissed. And tonight, both US President Trump and FIFA President Infantino are unapologetic about this episode. But it's causing an awful lot of bad feeling there, isn't it? Absolutely. I mean, look, You have U.S. fans here who are ecstatic that their top scorer is going to be available.

4:11They say it shouldn't have even gotten to this point because they believe it was an overly harsh red card. But even some of those do admit that you never want to see politics interfere with sport, that it should be left on the pitch. And so understanding, of course, how the rest of the world will be looking at the U.S. team now after, as you say, President Donald Trump, very unapologetic about interfering in this. And so you have Valerian Balogun, who is going to be available to play tonight. There is a minority of voices who say he shouldn't play to make a point that this is not OK. but overall you really can't escape that this has become the biggest controversy of the World Cup and that clearly now we are seeing other federations question their players, yellow cards and red cards, and saying that the rules need to be applied fairly across the board even if they disagree with FIFA's decision to begin with.

5:10The World Cup in the Americas seems thus far to have gone off relatively successfully. Some of the predictions about chaos in terms of people coming into the country, the high ticket prices seem to a certain extent have faded away. Is there a danger that this is going to be the story that everybody ends up talking about? I think that there is absolutely a fear that this puts a damper on this World Cup. I mean, if the US advances, for example, this is, you have to remember, one of the most successful US teams in their history. They have gone incredibly far. They have played with integrity and grit.

5:49and so it is a shame for no fault of their own that these players will have that cloud over them and as you say there has been long this concern about you know the lengths Gianni Infantino FIFA's president would go to please Donald Trump and so it is hard to escape what we are seeing happen in this instance and how it does impact the integrity of the game. Nada Torfik in New New Jersey, thanks very much. And just to say that whilst Nader was talking there, Spain beat Portugal 1-0 to reach the World Cup quarterfinals. That's the result of the early match this evening. Well, Gianni Infantino responded to the complaints and protests about the decision with a long post on social media in which he emphasised respect for independent institutions and the rule of law, which Mr Infantino added is what protects the integrity of our competitions and the credibility of FIFA at all times.

6:46FIFA's decision appears to be without precedent and has shocked a number of former football officials. Among them is Jim Boyce, who served as vice president of global football and previously worked alongside Mr Infantino, who's been president of FIFA for a decade. I asked him firstly for his gut reaction. My own personal opinion, it's a complete joke and I think that it's something that FIFA may regret in the future. Now, can I say to you that FIFA have always prided themselves on no political interference in the game of football. But to me, and I don't know the full facts of it yet, but this looks like blatant political interference when the President of the United States of America has admitted this afternoon that he made the phone call to Johnny Infantino.

7:36President Trump told reporters that he had indeed rang him, but he hadn't told him to do this. He just asked for FIFA to review the decision. And he also was at pains to stress that he didn't believe that Mr Infantino had made the decision. He felt that he'd passed it on to a committee or some group to review and make a decision. What do you make of that explanation? What I'm saying to you is that I was a member of the FIFA disciplinary committee before I became vice president of FIFA between 2011 and 2015. Well, I would like to know, and it still has not been established by anyone, who made this decision.

8:14Did Johnny Infantino make a decision or was it passed on to a disciplinary committee to make a decision? Because a referee apparently has said that it was not on his instructions that this decision was changed. What are the implications of making a decision like this, of the organisation overruling a referee's decision for the benefit, apparently, of one player on one team? I have never heard anything like this, quite honestly. You know, as I said to you, it shouldn't have happened. I don't know why it has happened and I will await further developments. But I think the most important thing is that I think FIFA, and I think Johnny, has got to come out and he's got to say who actually made this decision and why was it made.

9:02They have put the decision back for a year. In other words, they've literally suspended it for a year. But there's no World Cup next year. There's no World Cup qualifying next year. So this is a crazy decision. You know, it looks like they've just abandoned it. In effect, they've cancelled the red card. That's what you're saying. Because there will be no World Cup. Correct. That's exactly what I'm saying. You know Gianni Infantino well from your time. I do indeed, yes. At FIFA. How does this fit with your knowledge of his character, his approach to the difficulties of really being a football diplomat?

9:38I always found him to be a very good fellow, to be a very open and honest fellow. And I'll be honest with you, some of the decisions that he appears now to be making since becoming president of FIFA, quite honestly, they're quite astounding. I mean, we go back to the draw for the World Cup. Now, I, like I'm sure many other people listening to this programme, churned in to see who their countries would be playing in the World Cup. It took an hour and a half of doing and froing between him and Donald Trump, for want of a better word, before we even got to when the draw for the World Cup was made.

10:17So there does appear to be a very strong relationship at the minute between Infantino and Donald Trump. And as I say to you, Donald Trump is the president of the USA, but this is political interference to my mind. To my mind, he should not have made a phone call to Johnny Infantino. Would you expect now every country whose team gets a red card? And obviously, we hope there won't be too many of them in the remaining matches of the competition. That's not what it's supposed to be about, but it happens. Do you think they're all going to start ringing up Gianni Fantini now? Well, I don't... The people in their country will expect them to try, maybe.

10:56But you're 100 % correct. I think it has opened a real serious can of worms. To be honest, I now would like to know what the views are of the English FA and I would like to know what the views are of Debbie Hewitt, who's now the chairperson of the current English FA, as to what her views are. Former Vice President Jim Boyce talking to me earlier. Well, we did approach the FA for an interview, but were told that no one was available. Tariq Panja reports on football from The New York Times. He's been observing how the institutions weathered the controversial relationship between its president and the American one.

11:29You've got to go back to 2018, the first Trump term. And I guess the moments after the United States, Canada and Mexico were awarded the World Cup there in Moscow, of all places, in June 2018. Very soon after that, after the World Cup in Russia, Gianni Infantino makes his first trip to the White House, meets Donald Trump, and the two men hit it off. And they've continued to do so ever since. So the relationship's a curious one. It's probably the deepest between any leader of FIFA and a world leader. And one that kind of has gone into places where you don't expect as well. He ended up being a kind of an opening act at the World Economic Forum in Davos, a dinner for business people where, you know, Infantino opens up for Trump.

12:21We've seen Infantino attend the Abraham Accords. We've seen Infantino most recently being named to Donald Trump's Board of Peace. But the biggest thing, Sean, was when FIFA hastily arranged a FIFA Peace Prize. shortly after Donald Trump's efforts to secure the Nobel Peace Prize fell flat. And just for the record, no such thing had ever existed before? Never existed. People I know at FIFA, senior officials, were surprised when just a month before it was due to be handed out, it was announced they would have one. And they were like, what's the process? Do we have a shortlist? Is there a nominations committee?

13:10are their criteria. None of that was forthcoming. This trophy was created and delivered to its winner, surprise, surprise, Donald Trump, at the draw for the 2026 World Cup. So this relationship has been an awkward one, a curious one, but one they both seem to enjoy. Is Gianni Infantino really doing anything terribly different from what, say, Mark Rutter is doing at NATO, where he's using charm, one might say even obsequiousness on occasion, to keep Trump on side. Isn't that really all that Infantino is doing too? Trump had the potential to disrupt this World Cup if he wanted to. If he wasn't pleased with the way FIFA was operating, he could have made it very difficult.

13:58And Infantino has kept him on side. There is a case for that, and soccer bodies need to have governments on side, And Donald Trump presents a very particular character in that he does like to have his ego massaged by his interlocutors and people around him. And he's offended very quickly as well. However, he also is the leader of the United States. This is a big moment for this country. Why would he want to ruin the World Cup in his home country? I wonder what impact it has had on Mr. Infantino's reputation at FIFA headquarters that he was late for the annual gathering of FIFA in May last year because he was on the other side of the world traveling around the Persian Gulf with President Trump.

14:43Is that the sort of kind of choice that potentially threatens if chances are winning a third term, which he's seeking? You would have thought I was there. It was in Asuncion in Paraguay. But despite all of this, the incumbent is so powerful at FIFA, is rarely, if ever, challenged. And Infantino is likely to get four more years to 2031, which, by the way, will take him beyond the 12-year term limit that was agreed upon in reforms that he helped create. So that is the world of FIFA. The New York Times correspondent Tariq Panja. Still to come here on The World Tonight, it's sure to be one of the most epic book-to-screen adaptations ever attempted.

15:31This is definitely the biggest movie that I've ever done in my career. The Odyssey is a massive story. That's a really exciting challenge to take on. There's scope, fantasy and all these things, but also heart and depth and rawness. I spoke to Mary Beard shortly after she stepped off the red carpet at tonight's world premiere for Christopher Nolan's take on the Odyssey. In about 15 minutes time, you can hear why Professor Dane Mary has high hopes for a Homeric revival. Before that, a businesswoman who's breastfeeding her daughter was barred from attending a business event run by Amazon because children under the age of six aren't allowed on site.

16:12Rachel Bewes had been accepted onto a six-week programme, but part of it was being held in person at the site of an Amazon Fulfillment Centre in Dunfermline in Scotland. Those are the massive warehouses which send out orders and receive returned items. Rachel's been telling me what happened. I had let them know at least a week ahead of the event that I would need to take my 20-week-old baby with me and my husband as well to look after her so that I could nurse her as needed and leave the sessions to be able to do that. So we were traveling down the afternoon before the event. And just as we were about to get on the train, I received a phone call from the program organizer, just basically asking for a few more clarifying questions, things like, was I planning to have my baby in the session?

17:00Or would I just need a separate space for my husband to be able to look after her? and just checking that I wasn't planning on taking her onto the fulfilment centre floor, you know, where it'd be quite an industrial space. So I clarified that I had no intention of taking her to the main kind of operating area. So when you'd finished giving these answers to the person on the other end of the phone, what did they say at the end of the call? So they said that they would go back to the site team and clarify these points. Unfortunately, they phoned back a short while later, just confirming basically that it was a hard no that I would not be able to take my baby on site.

17:38And because I was already travelling at this point, I hadn't made provisions to express milk beforehand. I wasn't travelling with my steriliser or bottles or pump and my baby has a cow's milk allergy so I can't give her formula instead. And she's still only five months, isn't she? And I think the NHS recommends you should breastfeed if you can, if you're able to breastfeed for six months. Yes, precisely. so you know having that contact with her through a whole day is just an important part of how I'm caring for her our relationship. How you build that bond Yeah exactly so I didn't want her to be without me for the entire day.

18:15Is it possible there was just a straightforward misunderstanding here because I understand that they have a lactation room which would sort of imply that maybe they think nursing mums are just going to express milk. Do you think it could have been as straightforward as that? My understanding is that they have provisions for mothers to express milk, but that children and babies under the age of six are prohibited from being on site. So basically that puts, I guess, women like myself in a position where if you need to breastfeed your child and not feed them from a bottle, you know, not every breastfed baby will take a bottle even, that puts you in a tricky predicament.

18:56What do you think they should have done? So I think, you know, all events should really have good consideration to accessibility, inclusivity for all sorts of considerations. They'd ask me if I had any accessibility needs, for instance, which is something you would expect would be taken into consideration when attending an event like this. It's a challenging thing becoming a new mum and being in business is a big part of my identity. and so still having access to these same opportunities is really important for me and I suppose a lot of other working and professional mums out there. What do you think you may have missed out on by not being able to attend last Friday's event?

19:41You know, even though they had said I could continue with the online part of the cohort, for me some of the most important things that come out of these experiences are the in-person, kind of face-to-face connections you make over coffee or the people you meet over lunch. There's connections I maybe could have made to help my business and all of the other things that come with that. Rachel Bewes. Well, Amazon sent us a statement. In it, they say, we sincerely apologise to Ms Bewes that our site access policy was not communicated clearly before she travelled. That should not have happened and we understand her frustration.

20:18Amazon does not permit children under the age of six on any of our fulfilment centre sites. This is a long-standing health and safety policy that applies to all visitors and employees. We're reviewing our communications process to prevent this from happening again. How did a boycott Jimmy become a billionaire from posting videos? On Good Bad Billionaire, we're going to find out how the world's most popular YouTuber, Mr Beast, made his fortune. He's buried himself in a coffin for days. Counted to 100 ,000 on camera. And even recreated Squid Games, all in an attempt to go viral on the internet. But it all started when he gave a homeless man$10 ,000.

20:57So is he a philanthropist reshaping capitalism? Or is he just the king of the attention economy? Find out on Good Bad Billionaire. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Tomorrow could mark a turning point for French politics, and in particularly the presidency, which falls vacant next May, when Emmanuel Macron will leave office. Marine Le Pen, head of the right-wing populist party, the National Rally, had intended to run for the vacancy at the Elysee Palace for the fourth time. At the moment, though, she's subject to a court ban, preventing her running for any public office after her conviction on criminal charges of embezzlement.

21:34On Tuesday, a French court will deliver its decision after she appealed against her sentence. If her appeal is rejected, then her protégé, Jordan Bardella, younger and far less experienced, will be the party's candidate. Hugh Schofield, our correspondent in Paris, looks at what's at stake for a national rally and for France. L 'optionité, c 'est de faire mourir les gens de chaleur, d 'accord? If it looks like a candidate and it talks like a candidate, then it's a candidate. For now, this is Marine Le Pen fielding questions at the Vivatec Computing Fair in Paris a week ago. So what, I managed to squeeze one in, was her mood as she approached the July 7th verdict.

22:21Hamoud, she answered, serene, confident, everything's fine. It's the same answer you get from everyone at the National Rally Party now. They all know that this is a make-or-break moment. Quite possibly, the historic leader of the nationalist bloc in France will not be able to run next year, in her fourth and most promising chance to become head of state. But it doesn't matter, because there is a plan B. B as in Bardella. National Rally MP Alexandre Sabatou. I can't say bad things about Marine Le Pen, because I really hope she will be the one who will be a candidate. I think it's her time to be president of the French Republic.

22:59Yet Jordan Bardella has a lot of qualities. Nearly everybody in France knows Jordan Bardella. So he has his notoriety the same way that Marine Le Pen has. So it's a second choice that a lot of political parties would love to have as a first choice.

23:18And here's the man himself speaking over the weekend in the north of France at a joint meeting with Marine Le Pen, showing the voters that whatever happens, there's continuity, they're a team. It's not important which of them runs.

23:34But of course it is. Le Pen and Bardella are different people with very different strengths and weaknesses. Marion Soletti is chief Europe correspondent for Politico. Marion Le Pen is considered more experienced. She has this sort of statemanship that everybody says is a strength. On the other hand, of course, she's a Le Pen, so, you know, still toxic to part of the electorate. On the other hand, you know, Bardella is very much a fresh face, so he doesn't have this sort of burdens, but he's very young, and so everybody knows that they will have built up his stature. There are also differences of substance between the two leaders.

24:12Marine, the darling of the white working class with economic ideas that are left-wing in all but name. Jordan, the economic liberal, the man with a mission to reassure the markets.

24:24So which of the two would the party's opponents prefer to face? Well, coincidentally, this weekend saw a big rally in Paris for the man who, as things stand, is most likely to face off against Le Pen or Bardella next spring, the centrist former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. A chance to ask his supporters which of the two hard-right candidates was more to be feared. Opinions were divided, but surprisingly, a majority of these centre or centre-right voters thought the young Bardella to be the more dangerous opponent. Marine Le Pen is considered more socialist, more populist, whereas Jordan Bardella is seen as a candidate that would fit more with CAC 40 and big business.

25:09So I would think Jordan Bardella is more dangerous for the centre. Bardella is very young, he has not enough experience and he will be defeated by anyone against him. So I think he will be the worst candidate for his own party but the best for all the other parties. I believe that Jordan Bardella could bring some fresh air to their party, and they know that. They're pretty smart with their strategy, and that's why it's such a threat.

25:41Is Marine Le Pen perhaps resigned to taking a step back and letting her young protégé lead the nationalist fight? If he's actually the more formidable of the two, with his appeal to the young, and two traditional right-wingers afraid of the name Le Pen, then maybe it's a sensible move, regardless of the court's verdict. Who knows? For now, their message from Saturday's joint rally is simple. If it is to be Jordan Bardella, then Marine Le Pen is with him all the way. And jusqu 'à sa victoire, la candidature de Jordan Bardella. Hugh Schofield reporting. Well, Mr Bardella has said he's ready to accept the consequences of the appeal court's verdict in Marine Le Pen.