A perfectly friendly-looking American guy, sharp suit, early 50s is wandering around Miami. He tells me that in the past 10 years the city has turned into a \u201cmagnet for dreamers, doers and visionaries, a launchpad where ideas take flight, where connections spark movements, where legacies are born\u201d.<\/p>\n
I nod sagely, pretending to know what that means before clicking the X in the top right of the YouTube tab. The man in question is in fact the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, encouraging me and other leaders of industry to pay lots of money to attend the America Business Forum. The website tells me \u201cAmerica Business Forum comes to the United States for the first time\u201d \u2013 which begs the question where they\u2019ve held it previously. I\u2019m no chief executive, I don\u2019t keep a diary, but I\u2019d have put America right up there as a location to hold a forum on American business.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re one of the first people to read this, well you could just about get a ticket, otherwise it\u2019s too late \u2013 missed the chance to see the guy who set up WeWork tell us the wifi password, or see Rafa Nadal tell me how to grow my self-improvement podcast. The $10,000 early bird Diamond package \u201cfor those who lead change and want to be at the center of everything\u201d was already sold out anyway. It\u2019s tiring enough being the centre of my own existence, let alone everything.<\/p>\n
What in the Micky van de Ven does this have to do with sport anyway? Well, this was where the president\u00a0of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, announced his new big idea<\/a> this week: the \u201cFifa Peace Prize \u2013 Football Unites the World\u201d.<\/p>\n Gianni is on stage alongside one of the hosts; we are treated to a stirring montage of the last World Cup. \u201cQatar 2022: the most questioned World Cup in history,\u201d begins the voiceover. \u201cA tournament surrounded by doubt. Debate. And the weight of the world\u2019s eyes, but when the whistle blew something changed. The noise turned into emotion, the controversy into connection. Under pressure, Gianni Infantino<\/a> stood at the centre leading with resolve \u2013 proving that leadership isn\u2019t about avoiding the storm, it\u2019s about standing tall within it and as the world watched. The same World Cup became the most emotional, the most unifying, the most human of them all.\u201d<\/p>\n The room breaks out into healthy applause. That is certainly one review of Qatar 2022. Others might want to add a little more nuance.<\/p>\n Gianni Infantino says he will reveal the first winner of his Fifa Peace Prize at the World Cup draw in Washington DC on 5 December. Photograph: Alexander Tamargo\/Getty Images for America Business Forum<\/p>\n Anyway on to the Fifa<\/a> \u201cI Can\u2019t Believe It\u2019s Not The Nobel Peace Prize\u201d peace prize.<\/p>\n \u201cOur motto in Fifa is that football or soccer unites and that it brings people together from the entire planet,\u201d Infantino said. \u201cWhen we see what is happening in our world today, which is a very divided world, we need to find more occasions to bring people together, because when these people come together, they speak to each other, they understand each other. We believe that peace in the world is something which is so important.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to support it because it\u2019s about unity and we have to support anyone who is doing something special. So we thought we have to bring to life the Fifa peace prize. The first edition will be happening this year with the awarding on the 5th of December in Washington DC on the occasion of the draw for the World Cup, because we will have a global audience with 1 billion people watching the draw. This is the right platform to award somebody who has done so much or is doing so much for peace, because we need that. Football helps a little bit, but then we need leaders who push it into the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Well now, does anyone know anyone who might in the market for a global peace prize? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? Can I shock you? I like peace.<\/p>\n Infantino went on to praise Donald Trump: \u201cAs far as I understand, president Trump was elected, in the USA, quite clearly elected, and when you are in such a great democracy as the United States you should first of all respect the results of the election,\u201d says the man who \u2013 checks notes \u2013 has stood unopposed in Fifa elections twice, about the man \u2013 checks other notes \u2013 whose supporters mounted an insurrection against the results of an election. Where do you even start? The auditorium applauds again.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cI think we should all support what he\u2019s doing because I think he\u2019s doing pretty good.\u201d \u2026 Pretty pretty good \u2013 roll the Curb credits.<\/p>\n It would be a great time to ask Gianni whether it\u2019s normal that he didn\u2019t face any candidate in the past two Fifa presidential elections. And while we\u2019re on peace, has he given back his order of friendship medal from Vladimir Putin? And while we\u2019re on Qatar, why has Fifa ignored its own recommendations<\/a> and ruled out paying compensation to migrant workers who were harmed in Qatar? There are other questions.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s more extraordinary how any of this is happening. For good or bad, why is the guy who runs football preaching about fair elections and doling out peace prizes?<\/p>\n Sometimes it is difficult to reconcile this game of perfect simplicity with its place in the world. In the past week it has delivered some moments of total beauty. Van de Ven powering past the whole of FC Copenhagen, Dan Burn turning his forehead into the outside of Roberto Carlos\u2019s left foot, Hakan Calhanoglu lacing it to Piotr Zielinski<\/a>, have prompted all manner of involuntary noises from this sofa. Without their brilliance, does football have this money, this influence? They shouldn\u2019t be connected.<\/p>\n How do we get from Neil Harris praising the lads for beating Brighton Under-21s in the Vertu Trophy to the Fifa president taking part in the Gaza peace talks in Egypt? What a weird ecosystem. Something as inconsequential as football probably shouldn\u2019t have this level of importance \u2013 unless of course it brings about world peace. When that happens consider my movements sparked, my dreams magnetised and sign me up for all the business forums you can.<\/p>\n Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters<\/a> section, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n