Starmer stepped in to stop Fifa bringing forward Mexico kick-off time
Starmer stepped in to stop Fifa bringing forward Mexico kick-off time
Holly Evans Mon, July 6, 2026 at 4:11 PM UTC
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England’s football team are through to the quarter-finals after winning 3-2 against Mexico (Nick Potts/PA) (PA)
Sir Keir Starmer intervened to prevent Fifa bringing forward kick-off at the Azteca amid concerns the change could give Mexico an unfair advantage over England.
The Football Association alerted Downing Street that the time change would given the players less time to adapt to the altitude, leading the government to oppose moving the match from 1am to 7pm BST.
Sir Keir directed the intervention through diplomatic channels, The Sun newspaper reports, to give Thomas Tuchel’s team the additional six hours to prepare for the World Cup’s last-16 match.
England overcame hostility, altitude and Jarell Quansah’s red card to edge a 3-2 blockbuster against Mexico on Monday morning UK time and set up a quarter-final clash with Norway.
The match was due to kick-off at 1am UK time (6pm local time), but with the threat of lightning in the area, the stadium activated its thunderstorm protocol and the game instead started at 2am UK time (7pm local time).
Outgoing prime minister Starmer intervened last week with emergency legislation to allow pubs to stay open late, while some employers and schools gave employees and pupils the Monday morning off to enjoy the game.
It comes after US President Donald Trump confirmed he personally asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to “review” USA striker Folarin Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was controversially overturned on Sunday.
Balogun was sent off after VAR reviewed a challenge he made in the last-32 match against Bosnia, with the dismissal thought to have meant an automatic ban for Monday night’s last-16 tie against Belgium.
President Trump has now confirmed he personally lobbied Infantino at an event on Monday, telling the FIFA president that Balogun’s challenge “was not a foul” and adding that the referee “is a little bit suspect”.
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FIFA’s statutes prohibit political interference in matters relating to its national associations, but it has not yet commented on how it came to the decision to suspend Balogun’s ban.
Donald Trump confirmed he had lobbied FIFA president Gianni Infantino to ‘review’ a red card against a USA striker (Reuters)
Belgium have appealed against the decision to overturn the ban, while UEFA said it “crossed a red line”.
Mr Trump said at the Oval Office on Monday: “I spoke to Gianni, who’s highly respected.
“I saw the play and I’m a person that loves sports and was a good athlete, and I understand sports really well, really well and that wasn’t a foul, that wasn’t even an infraction, that was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other.
“These were two great athletes that got tangled up and this referee, who is a little bit suspect, if you check his past. I don’t want to say that, because I don’t like to create controversy, but very suspect.
“He made a call that nobody could believe. He (Balogun) didn’t do anything wrong and he’s our best player, or one of our best players… and he (the referee) gave him a red card.
“It’s very unfair, you can’t do that. So, yes, I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man who’s highly respected (Infantino) and by the way, whose level of respect has gone up tenfold.”
UEFA expressed “disbelief” at the decision taken by FIFA and said it was “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable”.
The statement from European football’s governing body added: “When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined.”
Source: “AOL Sports”
