United States president Donald Trump was unsurprisingly given the first ever FIFA peace prize at Friday’s World Cup draw ceremony in Washington DC.
Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino have formed a close bond and Trump has now been handed a new prize from football’s global governing body which recognises individuals who have made “exceptional contributions to peace and unity”.
The award is a hugely controversial one, with human rights campaigners having urged FIFA earlier this week not to hand the prize to Trump.
“Awarding this prize against a backdrop of escalating attacks on human rights and civil freedoms – including violent detentions of immigrants, crackdowns on freedom of expression, and the militarisation of US cities – underscores the increasing likelihood of the 2026 World Cup being weaponised for authoritarian aims,” a joint release on behalf of a number of groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said.
Infantino has previously praised Trump’s role in the Middle East peace negotiations, while the US is also working to bring an end to the conflict sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
However, questions have been raised over the Trump administration’s conduct over the last week in relation to an attack on a Venezuelan boat in the Caribbean Sea in September.
Trump also said at a press briefing attended by Infantino last month that he would launch strikes on the territory of fellow World Cup co-hosts Mexico if it stopped drugs being trafficked into the US.
Earlier this week Trump attracted further controversy by describing Somali immigrants to the US as “garbage”.
Trump said the award was “truly one of the great honours of my life”.
He praised Infantino for the early World Cup ticket sales, describing it as “an awfully nice tribute to you, and to the game of football”.
Trump added: “I think you’re going to have an event the likes of which maybe the world has never seen, based on the enthusiasm that I’ve seen. I have never seen anything like it.”
He thanked Canada and Mexico for their co-operation in organising the tournament before ending with a dig at his predecessor as US president, Joe Biden.
“The world is a safer place now. 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 that we’re going to keep it that way.”
