Howard Webb, English football's chief refereeing officer, has said he was "really troubled" by Fifa's decision to suspend a World Cup ban for USA striker Folarin Balogun after Donald Trump personally appealed against it, warning that such episodes fuel fans' belief in refereeing conspiracies. Webb's comments come as English football's referees' body relaunches as Pro Ref ahead of the new Premier League season, introducing measures aimed at improving transparency and trust in officiating.

Balogun was sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina at the World Cup but ultimately missed no matches after his suspension was lifted following pressure from the US president, a decision Fifa admitted was politically influenced. Webb said fans increasingly view contentious calls as "corrupt" rather than simple human error, a view echoed by Premier League chief executive Richard Masters. Pro Ref will now publish weekly independent assessments of key match incidents, release audio of referee-player conversations, expand its VAR pool at Stockley Park to cut average intervention times (41 seconds last season) and reduce wrongful VAR interventions, and streamline semi-automatic offside technology.