371. The Astonishment

Belgium is astonished. This is official. Belgium's football federation has issued a statement describing itself as astonished by a FIFA ruling involving a footballer named Folarin Balogun, and has announced that it is exploring all potential options.

The options Belgium is exploring involve FIFA. FIFA is the organization whose ruling astonished Belgium. The procedure for addressing an astonishing FIFA ruling is to file a complaint with FIFA, which will be reviewed by FIFA using the same principles that produced the ruling Belgium found astonishing. This is the process. The process has not changed.

Folarin Balogun is a footballer who was born in New York, grew up in England, and plays at the highest level. His eligibility for national teams is governed by FIFA, which has rules about this. The rules were written to account for players born in one country who grew up in another and who have parents from other countries still. Someone wrote these rules to be comprehensive. The rules are now comprehensive. Belgium has encountered the comprehensiveness and is astonished by it.

Belgium has previously fielded a national football team widely considered among the best in the world during a sustained period when they won nothing. They finished third at the 2018 World Cup. Their golden generation has since retired. They are familiar with outcomes that do not match expectations. They have decided that this time, however, they will explore all potential options.

No one has specified what the options are. The options are, presumably, with FIFA. FIFA has had the options this whole time. Belgium will now explore them. FIFA will review the exploration. The astonishment will be entered into the official record. The record will be stored at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, which is a very expensive city, which is why the stadium fees are what they are.