Folarin Bolagun's red card is questioned as fears of betting irregularities emerge

• A new report suggests that there may have been some betting irregularities during the World Cup
• Notably, Polymarket only opened a market on red card being overturned for US player Folarin Bolagun
• FIFA's integrity watchdog has found no issue betweeen game outcomes and existing betting fixtures

The decision to overturn a red card issued to Folarin Balogun, which would have kept him out of the game against Belgium in the Round of 32, landed hard with soccer fans and anyone with a modicum of integrity.

Red card, no red card - prediction markets get it right again

The unprecedented move of a red card penalty being lifted after a game was over was seen as further evidence of the sleazy backroom cronism that happens at FIFA behind closed doors, and one that has materialized in full view.

But things may be much worse than they appear, as President Donald Trump’s supposed intervention to see the player reinstated was bad enough, but a new analysis by a sports integrity watchdog now suggests that insiders may have gained on the information that Bolagun was due a "pardon."

The Group of Copenhagen has raised fears that there may have been at least several instances of severe match manipulation, and Balogun may be one of those.

The watchdog flagged a Polymarket opening on the potential of having Balogun reinstated and his red card expunged, and to make it worse - out of 14 red cards at that point in the tournament, Polymarket had only ventured to offer this type of market on the US player only.

The market, "Will Folarin Balogun play against Belgium," was opened immediately after the player was thrown out of the game during the game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Group of Copenhagen has also gone a step further, taking a closer look at several games, such as Spain not defeating Cape Verde in the group stage, and also a delay from the video assistant referee team, which led to a goal against Saudi Arabia being disallowed, ending the score with 4-0.

Integrity intact, says FIFA, but independent investigators on the lookout

While all of these cases may be attributed to coincidence and are not in themselves damning, the Group of Copenhagen insisted that they were still illustrations of potential manipulation.

FIFA’s Integrity Task Force has announced that there have been no irregularities surrounding the event, and that no issues were identified with any specific plays relevant to existing betting markets.

The Polymarket market raises enough suspicion as is, but the platform may have been doing what it does best - posting an outrageous fixture, especially given President Donald Trump’s mercurial nature and inability to grasp that the rules apply to him.

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