Not long after President Donald Trump missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize that he openly campaigned for, his friend Gianni Infantino got to work.
Infantino, president of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, who had publicly lobbied for Trump to receive the peace prize, simply had his organisation establish its own. The announcement of the “FIFA Peace Prize — Football Unites the World” was so hastily arranged that it surprised several of the body’s most senior officials, including board members and vice presidents, according to four soccer executives briefed on the events.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, right, awards President Donald Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Centre in Washington.Credit: AP
On Friday, FIFA announced the award winner — Trump, of course — along with the draw for the 2026 men’s World Cup.
“This is truly one of the great honours of my life,” Trump said after receiving the prize.
Why FIFA established a peace prize owes less to sports and more to Infantino’s efforts to ingratiate himself with Trump.
Infantino has lauded Trump at almost every opportunity, attending events that have little to do with soccer, handing over major FIFA trophies to Trump and presiding over FIFA’s rental of office space in Trump Tower in New York two years after the organisation opened a gleaming North American hub in Miami.
The Trump Tower office is empty much of the time, according to three of the executives and a fourth official, all of whom are familiar with how FIFA uses the space. They, like others cited in this article, requested anonymity to discuss private FIFA matters. FIFA did not answer questions beyond saying that the organisation paid “market rent” for the Trump Tower office space.
Friday’s event was held at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington, a public-private space whose leadership Trump has stacked with loyalists. Democrats have accused the Kennedy Centre of giving FIFA a sweetheart deal to use the venue, a claim that the centre has denied.
FIFA and Infantino have said that close relationships with the U.S. government and with Trump are vital to ensuring a successful World Cup. The tournament will be played mostly in the United States, with games also in Canada and Mexico, requiring elaborate coordination.
Trump has welcomed Infantino into his orbit, recently calling him “my boy” and embracing the planning for the World Cup. Trump established a government task force run by Andrew Giuliani, son of his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, to ensure the tournament goes smoothly.
As the Trump administration makes it more difficult for foreign travellers to obtain visas, a goal of the task force is to ensure visitors for the World Cup can enter quickly, officials have said. One initiative would prioritise visa appointments for World Cup ticket holders. (The past two World Cup hosts, Qatar and Russia, granted visa-free travel to ticket holders.)
Trump has also seized on the World Cup as a tool to wield influence, using the economic benefits that come with hosting a game as a political cudgel against Democratic politicians. He has threatened to pull World Cup matches from Boston, for example, after clashing with its mayor.
A White House spokesperson, Davis Ingle, said that Trump was “excited to attend” the draw and that the administration’s partnership with Infantino would deliver “one of the most iconic sporting events in history.”
The relationship between the president and Infantino dates to Trump’s first term, when FIFA selected the United States to co-host the 2026 World Cup. A regular in the Oval Office, Infantino has also travelled thousands of miles to attend events with Trump. After touring the Persian Gulf with Trump in May, Infantino arrived hours late to FIFA’s annual meeting in Paraguay, prompting European soccer leaders to walk out.
Praise and privileges are offered in both directions. Trump invited Infantino to Egypt in October to mark the Gaza Strip ceasefire deal. He was the only sports official there.
“The president of FIFA — Gianni Infantino,” Trump exclaimed at a Miami business summit last month, adding, “Wow, Gianni, my boy. I didn’t know he was going to be here.”
Despite FIFA statutes mandating officials’ political neutrality, Infantino, who has described Trump as a “really close friend,” has offered support for Trump’s agenda. “We should all support what he’s doing because I think it’s looking pretty good,” Infantino said at the gathering in Miami.
Miguel Maduro, a former head of governance at FIFA, said that while the organisation valued good relationships with national leaders, Infantino went too far in lauding the president’s record.
“That is clearly, in my view, a violation of the duty of political neutrality imposed by FIFA’s code of ethics,” Maduro said. FIFA did not give a response to his criticism.
Infantino’s trips to the White House often end with his leaving a gift. During an August visit, he showed off a replica of the men’s World Cup trophy. Trump praised the “beautiful piece of gold,” then asked to keep it.
At that meeting, Trump announced that the World Cup draw would be held at the Kennedy Center. To prepare, FIFA is occupying the center for three weeks, prompting the cancellation of much of its lucrative holiday season schedule.