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FIFA Peace Prize: To address the controversy, FIFA has officially deferred the decision to its Football Social Responsibility Committee.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino with US President Donald Trump (Reuters)
FIFA is actively considering scrapping the FIFA Peace Prize, which could leave US President Donald Trump as its first and only winner.
During a high-level FIFA Council meeting in Zurich, several council members heavily pressured FIFA President Gianni Infantino to abolish or radically alter the accolade due to intense backlash. The award, which Infantino created in November 2025 and handed to Trump a month later at the 2026 World Cup draw, was never formally signed off on by the FIFA Council.
This lack of approval, combined with severe criticism that honoring a sitting political leader explicitly violated FIFA’s strict rules on political neutrality, sparked the internal rebellion, according to reports in international media.
To address the controversy, FIFA has officially deferred the decision to its Football Social Responsibility Committee. The committee has been tasked with conducting an exhaustive review and providing a formal proposal. A definitive ruling on whether the prize will be completely abolished or heavily modified (such as banning politicians and restricting it strictly to football figures) will be made at the next FIFA Council meeting in Doha, scheduled for December 16, 2026, Al Jazeera reported.
WHAT IS THE FIFA PEACE PRIZE?
Officially named the “FIFA Peace Prize – Football Unites the World“, it was an annual accolade introduced by FIFA President Gianni Infantino in November 2025. According to FIFA, the award was established to recognize individuals who have taken “exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace” and used their influence to unite people globally.
WHY WAS IT GIVEN TO DONALD TRUMP?
At A Glance
FIFA is actively considering scrapping or altering the FIFA Peace Prize following intense internal backlash.
The award was created by FIFA President Gianni Infantino in November 2025 and handed to Donald Trump a month later.
The accolade was never formally approved by the FIFA Council and faced severe criticism for violating rules on political neutrality.
The FIFA Football Social Responsibility Committee is reviewing the award with a definitive ruling scheduled for December 16, 2026.
Gianni Infantino presented the inaugural prize to U.S. President Donald Trump on December 5, 2025, during the glitzy 2026 World Cup Final Draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.. FIFA and Infantino cited several specific reasons for honoring Trump:
- Infantino praised Trump as a leader who was “instrumental in resolving conflicts and saving lives.” Specifically, FIFA pointed to Trump’s role in brokering a peace treaty between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, as well as his efforts to advance ceasefires in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
- With the United States co-hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico, Infantino sought to align the tournament’s theme of global unity with Trump’s political presence, stating that Trump’s leadership embodied what FIFA wanted to achieve through soccer.
THE CONTROVERSY
While FIFA presented the award as a celebration of peace, investigative reports and human rights groups highlighted alternative motivations and heavily criticized the move.
The prize was conceived and announced just weeks after Trump was passed over for the October 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Infantino, a close ally of Trump, had publicly campaigned that Trump deserved the Nobel Prize and created the FIFA equivalent shortly after Trump missed out on it.
Human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and FairSquare condemned the prize as a blatant political stunt. They accused Infantino of bypassing standard FIFA governance, inventing an award without an open selection process, and using it to “curry favor” with the U.S. government to secure commercial and political backing for FIFA’s upcoming tournaments.
This massive pushback over violating FIFA’s core rules on political neutrality is precisely why the FIFA Council is currently re-evaluating whether to scrap the prize entirely.
With agency inputs
Quick Answers
Ask News18FIFA is reviewing the award following severe criticism that honoring a sitting political leader violated FIFA’s rules on political neutrality. Additionally, the accolade was created by Gianni Infantino without being formally signed off by the FIFA Council, sparking an internal rebellion.
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October 19, 2026, 18:45 IST
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