{"id":334751,"date":"2025-12-08T10:56:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334751\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T10:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:56:13","slug":"trump-scores-an-own-goal-for-fifa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334751\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump scores an own goal for FIFA"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIFA invents a \u201cPeace Prize\u201d to flatter Donald Trump, proving once again that football\u2019s governing body never misses an open goal for global embarrassment, writes Kate Zarb<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WE WEREN\u2019T SURPRISED when we saw it play out, but the punchline we\u2019ve been bracing ourselves for has finally happened. On Saturday 6 December, FIFA<\/a> awarded its inaugural Peace Prize<\/a> \u2013 a prize no one had ever heard of before Saturday\u00a0\u2013 to none other than Donald Trump<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Clearly, FIFA has decided the respect of six billion people isn\u2019t worth having. It\u2019s sucking up to the giant man-baby with a made-up prize and a trophy big enough (and ugly enough) to be used as a security bollard.<\/p>\n

Or has it?<\/p>\n

FIFA, like the rest of the world, has been watching in horror at the way everything is spiralling under Trump\u2019s oppressive presence. He is at once a laughing stock and an existential threat to millions of people, such is his malice \u2014 and FIFA knows this.<\/p>\n

\"Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

With football still only a minor sport in the USA, I\u2019m sure FIFA was hoping to profit from a successful Men\u2019s World Cup, in 2026 and for many years to come.<\/p>\n

But I think FIFA has seen the writing on the wall. It knows the 2026 World Cup won\u2019t be remembered for an astonishing goal, but for the players turned away at the border. It knows there will be no heroism on the football pitch if the locker rooms, team hotels and public streets become a hunting ground for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.<\/a>) agents hell-bent on deporting anyone darker than an Antebellum plantation owner. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Like many of you, I try to stay away from news from the USA. I realise I am privileged to be able to do so. But my boycott isn\u2019t a complete one. I\u2019ve seen the videos of I.C.E. agents terrorising people, violating the Constitution, confident in their impunity. The Project 2025<\/a> regime has recruited the cruellest and most ignorant people in the country and given them a gun and a badge. And not just a gun, but an arsenal. And not just a badge, but a government prepared to look the other way when laws are broken by White men in uniforms.<\/p>\n

FIFA can\u2019t be sure that players will have safe passage when travelling to the USA next year. There will be even less protection for the fans,\u00a0which may keep many of them away. As well as the ticket revenue, FIFA risks embarrassment if the powerhouses from South America, Europe and Asia attract smaller crowds than a local Under 6\u2019s match.<\/p>\n

The USA will cement its reputation as the most contemptible nation on Earth, that much is certain, but FIFA risks humiliation as well. Teams like Brazil, Spain and England are used to a certain level of celebrity. Empty stadiums would draw the ire of every football-loving nation on Earth (which, at last count, was all of them) and who knows what that could mean for FIFA\u2019s future?<\/p>\n

I think FIFA has taken lessons from the stories of Coppola<\/a>, Scorsese<\/a> and David Chase<\/a> and decided their only hope for \u201cprotection\u201d is to pay off the local gangster boss. And like Tony Soprano before him, the only currency Trump accepts is sycophancy.<\/p>\n

\"Trump\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

Will FIFA\u2019s global humiliation pay off? Only time will tell. Just days after Silicon Valley billionaires, including Tim Cook<\/a>, Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> and Sam Altman<\/a>, dined with Trump, each taking turns to heap praise on the tangerine tyrant, Trump added a new $100,000 fee to the H-1B visa<\/a> that these tech bosses rely on to keep their empires running.<\/p>\n

And yes, it was as cringe-inducing as it sounds. America\u2019s richest men spent an evening awkwardly reverse-roasting the President \u2013\u00a0 \u201cblowing smoke up his arse,\u201d as Australians would say \u2013 only to forget them and his \u201cdeals\u201d with them after a few days.<\/p>\n

I recently saw a meme that compared Trump to all four of the bad Willy Wonka<\/a> kids. This is the core of Trump, so evil that even fictitious villains have to be amalgamated before they approach his level of depravity.<\/p>\n

This is the man that FIFA is wooing.<\/p>\n

Of course,\u00a0we all know the \u201cPeace Prize\u201d has been conjured up, but, hopefully, Trump won\u2019t. Even if he has any nagging doubts, FIFA is a global organisation and it wouldn\u2019t take much for Trump to be convinced that FIFA is far more respected than the Nobel Committee. If he keeps believing that this made-up prize is the greatest honour ever bestowed on a man, it just might have some sway with him.<\/p>\n

We can only hope it works.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Kate Zarb<\/a> is an exhausted Gen X woman who just wants the world to be a better place. She has worked in everything from hospitality to politics, using each chapter as an opportunity to learn about the world we live in.\u00a0You can follow Kate on Bluesky\u00a0@kathoftarragon.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSupport independent journalism Subscribe<\/a>\u00a0to IA.\n\t\t<\/p>\n

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