Washington, DC – Players often face fines and bans from FIFA for displaying political messages, as the football governing body has long proclaimed a policy of political neutrality.
But on Friday, the association’s chief Gianni Infantino handed United States President Donald Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, further cementing his embrace of the Republican leader.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 items
- list 1 of 3Five key takeaways from Trump’s National Security Strategy
- list 2 of 3Experts say US boat strikes are illegal killings. Can they be stopped?
- list 3 of 3Top 10 games, groups of death: All to know about the FIFA World Cup draw
end of list
Critics pointed out that the award came less than 24 hours after the Trump administration carried out another deadly air strike in the Caribbean.
Craig Mokhiber, a former United Nations official who has campaigned to suspend Israel from world football over its genocidal war in Gaza, called the award to Trump a “truly shameful development”.
Infantino has refused to take action against Israel, arguing that football “cannot solve geopolitical” issues.
“Not satisfied with two years of FIFA complicity in genocide in Palestine, Infantino and his cronies have now invented a new ‘peace prize’ in order to curry favour with Donald Trump,” Mokhiber told Al Jazeera.
He added that the award also aims to “obscure” Trump’s “disgraceful record” of support to Israel, his deadly strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea, and “gross violations of human rights” inside the US.
Infantino praises Trump
While presenting the prize on Friday, Infantino expressed support for Trump’s international deals, including the so-called Abraham Accords that established formal ties between Israel and several Arab states without resolving the question of Palestinian statehood.
“This is what we want from a leader: a leader that cares about the people. We want to live in a safe world, in a safe environment. We want to unite, and that’s what we do here today, and that’s what we want to do at the World Cup,” Infantino said as he presented the award.
“Mr President, you definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way, but you have obtained in an incredible way.”
Trump has openly campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize but missed out on the award earlier this year.
He said the new FIFA recognition is one of the “great honours” he has received, and he repeated his claim that his presidency has saved millions of lives and ended eight wars.
The US president’s remarks were brief, but he still could not help but take a shot at the record of his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
“The United States, one year ago, was not doing too well, and now I have to say we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world,” Trump said.
A departure from past statements
Infantino has previously warned against using football to stoke division. “There’s no more powerful tool than sport to unite the people,” he said in 2023. “Now we have to protect the autonomy of sport: the political neutrality of sport and to protect the values of sport.”
Two years later, critics point out that Infantino has cre