US President Donald Trump became the inaugural recipient of FIFA’s new peace prize at the 2026 World Cup draw on Friday, an apparent consolation for a leader whose long-standing pursuit of a Nobel Peace Prize has yet to be fulfilled.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, a close ally of Trump, presented the 79-year-old leader with the award during a ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
“Thank you very much. This is truly one of the great honors of my life. And beyond awards, Gianni and I were discussing this, we saved millions and millions of lives,” Trump said.
Infantino praised Trump for his “exceptional and extraordinary” efforts to promote global peace and unity.
FIFA unveiled the annual peace prize in November, saying it would honor individuals who offer “hope for future generations.” Few were surprised by the choice of its first recipient.
Infantino, 55, has cultivated a particularly close relationship with Trump, visiting the White House more frequently than any other world leader since Trump returned to office in January.
Trump has repeatedly claimed he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, citing his administration’s role in ending what he says are eight conflicts this year, including brokering a fragile ceasefire in Gaza. Nevertheless, the Norwegian Nobel Committee last month awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
Trump has positioned himself as the head of a self-styled “board of peace” for Gaza, a signing ceremony in Egypt was attended by Infantino and his administration this week renamed a Washington-based peace institute in his honor.
The president has also made the 2026 World Cup a signature focus of his second term.
Still, FIFA’s award marks an unusual move for an organization that routinely emphasizes its political neutrality. Transparency around the prize has been limited; Human Rights Watch said it wrote to FIFA requesting details on nominees, judges, criteria, and the selection process but received no response.
The award comes as Trump faces criticism from Democrats and human-rights groups on several fronts.
Despite branding himself the “president of peace,” Trump has overseen a significant US military buildup around Venezuela and ordered lethal airstrikes on boats accused of drug smuggling. He has also implemented a sweeping crackdown on migration, threatening to relocate World Cup matches from cities where he has deployed troops and freezing asylum decisions for 19 countries, including World Cup participants Haiti and Iran.
In addition, Trump has intensified pressure on political opponents, rival movements, and critics of his false claim that he won the 2020 election.
The Kennedy Center, the venue for the World Cup draw, is the same institution where Trump installed himself as chairman earlier this year as part of what he described as a campaign against “woke” culture.
AFP
