Folarin Balogun
Folarin Balogun is the Brooklyn-born USMNT striker for AS Monaco who chose the United States over England and scored three goals at the 2026 World Cup.
Folarin Balogun is the Brooklyn-born, London-raised striker who became the United States men’s national team’s most productive World Cup forward in a generation while serving as the attacking focal point of AS Monaco in France’s Ligue 1. Eligible to represent the United States, England and Nigeria, he committed to the U.S. in May 2023 — a decision that looked fully vindicated when he scored three goals at the 2026 World Cup on home soil. A movement-first No. 9 whose club résumé matches his international billing, Balogun is the rare American striker who arrived in a World Cup summer as a proven league goalscorer rather than a projection.
| Vitals | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 3, 2001, Brooklyn, New York (raised in London) |
| Position | Striker (centre-forward) |
| Teams | Arsenal (2020–2023); Middlesbrough, loan (2022); Reims, loan (2022–23); AS Monaco (2023–) |
| Draft | None (soccer has no draft) |
| Contract | Under contract with AS Monaco through June 30, 2028 (as of Nov. 2, 2026) |
| Number | 9 (Monaco); 20 (USMNT) |
Arsenal academy and the loans
The scouting. Balogun joined Arsenal’s academy at age eight after being spotted in London youth football, and he signed his first professional contract with the club in February 2019. He rose through the age groups as a natural finisher and made his senior debut in the UEFA Europa League in October 2020, scoring his first senior goal weeks later.
The breakthrough problem. Behind an established Arsenal forward line, first-team minutes never came. A half-season loan to Championship side Middlesbrough in the first half of 2022 produced three goals in 20 appearances and a taste of senior rhythm, but the decisive move was the next one.
The Reims loan
The season that changed everything. Loaned to Stade de Reims for 2022-23, Balogun scored 21 goals in 37 Ligue 1 appearances, opening with a goal against Marseille on his league debut in August 2022 and adding a hat trick along the way. It was one of the most productive seasons by any young forward in Europe that year and reframed him from academy prospect to transfer target. It also sharpened a looming international question: a 21-goal striker was suddenly a figure three national federations wanted.
Choosing the United States
Three flags. Born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents, Balogun moved to London at one month old and qualified for the United States, England and Nigeria. He had represented England through the youth ranks, which made a senior switch a formal process rather than a simple choice.
The decision. FIFA approved his one-time change of association to the United States on May 16, 2023, and he debuted that June in the CONCACAF Nations League, scoring his first USMNT goal in the 2023 final, a 2-0 win over Canada on June 18, 2023. He has since become the program’s first-choice striker, with 31 caps and 12 goals.
Monaco
The transfer. On August 30, 2023, Monaco signed Balogun on a five-year deal for a reported fee around €40 million including add-ons. His first season was steady rather than spectacular — seven league goals in 2023-24 — and his second was wrecked by injury: he dislocated his shoulder at Rennes on Oct. 5, 2024, returned in late November, aggravated it against Marseille and in December 2024 was set to undergo shoulder surgery, with Monaco coach Adi Hütter saying he did not know how long Balogun would be out. He returned in spring 2025 but finished 2024-25 with 13 Ligue 1 appearances.
The payoff. Healthy again, Balogun delivered his best club campaign in 2025-26: 13 Ligue 1 goals and four assists in 30 appearances, the most of any Monaco player in the league, earning him AS Monaco’s Player of the Season award.
The Everton episode. On deadline day, September 1, 2026, a move to Premier League club Everton — a reported package around £40 million — collapsed after his medical. According to Monaco sporting director Thiago Scuro, Everton raised late questions about the medical that Monaco and Balogun’s own medical staff disputed, and Balogun, uneasy about how it was handled, declined to sign. He remained at Monaco, where his first goal of 2026-27 came on November 1, 2026, against Paris FC.
The 2026 World Cup
The opening statement. In the United States’ World Cup opener on June 12, 2026, at SoFi Stadium, Balogun scored twice in a 4-1 win over Paraguay, becoming the first American to score two goals in a single World Cup match since Bert Patenaude in the inaugural 1930 tournament.
The Bosnia night. In the round of 32 on July 1, 2026, Balogun opened the scoring in a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina — the United States’ first World Cup knockout victory in 24 years — before being sent off in the 64th minute after a VAR review for a trailing-foot challenge. His three tournament goals matched Landon Donovan for the second-most ever by an American at a single men’s World Cup.
The aftermath. The red card triggered a one-match ban that U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino disputed, and an ESPN review of the VAR protocol argued the sending-off was wrongly applied. FIFA then suspended the ban amid reporting of a call between U.S. President Donald Trump and the FIFA president, a reversal that drew accusations of political interference.
Playing style
The profile. Balogun is a penalty-box centre-forward whose game is built on timing and finishing rather than build-up play. His runs across the back line and into the channels are his signature, and his conversion from inside the box drove the goal tallies at Reims and Monaco. Two-footed and listed at 5-foot-10 (1.78 m), he is quick over short distances and comfortable finishing first-time, though he operates best with a creator feeding him rather than as a link-up striker who drops deep. The 2024-25 shoulder injuries, not technique, were the one clear interruption to his development curve.
By the numbers
Ligue 1 club record, per FBref, The Analyst and Wikipedia (2023-24 and 2024-25 appearances). The Analyst credits him with 11 career Ligue 1 assists, including one in 2026-27.
| Season | Club | GP | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | Reims (loan) | 37 | 21 |
| 2023-24 | Monaco | 29 | 7 |
| 2024-25 | Monaco | 13 | 4 |
| 2025-26 | Monaco | 30 | 13 |
| 2026-27 | Monaco | 5 | 1 |
| Ligue 1 total | — | 114 | 46 |
Career totals
Ranks
- 1st Monaco's Ligue 1 scorer, 2025-26 season (13 goals)
- T-2nd Goals by an American at a single men's World Cup (3, with Landon Donovan)
- 1st USMNT player with a two-goal World Cup game since 1930
Honors
- 2025-26 AS Monaco Player of the Season
- 2023 CONCACAF Nations League champion (USA)
- Monaco's Ligue 1 top scorer, 2025-26 (13)
- 2026 FIFA World Cup round of 16 (USA, 3 goals)
- 21 Ligue 1 goals on loan at Reims, 2022-23
Per StatMuse, The Analyst, Wikipedia and U.S. Soccer, through Nov. 2, 2026.
The arguments
Was the United States the right flag? Supporters of the switch point to the outcome: Balogun became a first-choice international striker and a World Cup goalscorer, roles he was unlikely to claim inside England’s crowded forward pool. Skeptics in the English game argued at the time that he was abandoning the higher-ceiling program before giving it a chance; U.S. backers counter that England never offered him a senior pathway, only youth caps. The scoreboard from June and July 2026 has largely settled the debate in the pro-switch camp, though the “what if” persists in English commentary.
Did he dodge a bad move or damage his stock? When the Everton transfer collapsed, one reading — advanced by Balogun’s camp and relayed by Monaco’s Scuro — was that the club’s handling of the medical gave him legitimate reason to walk away. The opposing reading, common in transfer-market analysis, is that a 25-year-old turning down a Premier League move leaves him facing the same questions at Monaco and narrows his next window. Both sides agree the episode was unusual; they disagree on who it reflects poorly upon.
The red card and the reversal. The sending-off against Bosnia produced two distinct disputes. The first is sporting: Pochettino and an ESPN protocol review held that it was never a red card, while referee Raphael Claus showed the red card only after a VAR-recommended on-field review. The second is institutional: FIFA’s decision to suspend the ban after reported contact between the U.S. president and FIFA leadership drew accusations of political interference from critics, while others framed it as a correction of a bad call. The entry records both the decision and the backlash without resolving either.
Why it matters
Balogun broadened the map of American soccer stardom beyond the Christian Pulisic tier by solving its most stubborn position: a striker who scores at both the club and international level. A Brooklyn-born, London-raised No. 9 who chose the United States and carried Monaco’s attack, he became the first American with two goals in a World Cup match since Bert Patenaude in 1930 and tied Landon Donovan’s 2010 mark of three goals at one tournament. He is the reference point for the next generation of dual-eligible forwards weighing the same decision he made in May 2023.
