{"id":404491,"date":"2026-02-02T21:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/404491\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T21:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:23:10","slug":"infantino-apologises-to-british-fans-and-defends-awarding-trump-peace-prize-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/404491\/","title":{"rendered":"Infantino apologises to British fans and defends awarding Trump peace prize | Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino<\/a>, has apologised over remarks he made about British fans and defended the decision to award a peace prize to the US president, Donald\u00a0Trump.<\/p>\n

Infantino said at last month\u2019s World Economic Forum<\/a> in Davos that the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 had been special because \u201cfor the first time in history no Brit was\u00a0arrested\u201d.<\/p>\n

His comments were described as a \u201ccheap\u201d joke at the expense of fans by the Football Supporters\u2019 \u00adAssociation, while the UK\u2019s football policing lead chief constable, Mark Roberts, said they were \u201cneither helpful nor\u00a0\u00adaccurate\u201d, given the record of fans at tournaments before Qatar and since.<\/p>\n

Infantino was asked about the comments in an interview with Sky News and said: \u201cI need first to apologise. It was meant to be more of a lighthearted remark to show that actually the World Cup<\/a> in Qatar was a celebration, was a peaceful event and everyone came together in a \u00adpeaceful way.<\/p>\n

\u201c So having English fans \u2013 real fans \u2013 coming in a peaceful way and enjoying and cheering for their team is something that is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino was heavily criticised for the decision to award Trump the \u00adinaugural Fifa peace prize<\/a> at \u00adDecember\u2019s World Cup draw in Washington, with the move further questioned after US forces seized the Venezuelan president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, and after Trump issued threats about using military force to seize\u00a0Greenland.<\/p>\n

However, Infantino told Sky News: \u201cObjectively, he deserves it.\u201d The Swiss spoke about the role Trump played in securing a \u00adceasefire between Israel and Hamas, saying: \u201cHe was instrumental in \u00adresolving conflicts and saving thousands of\u00a0lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gianni Infantino (left) and Fifa\u2019s chief of global football development Ars\u00e8ne Wenger at the Women\u2019s Champions Cup final on Sunday. Photograph: John Walton\/PA<\/p>\n

Infantino also said his organisation and Uefa would \u201chave to\u201d look at allowing Russia back into international football. The country has been banned since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but the International Olympic Committee has now recommended that international sports federations admit Russian teams to compete at youth level.<\/p>\n

Infantino said: \u201cWe have to [look at readmitting Russia]. Definitely. This ban has not achieved anything, it has just created more frustration and hatred. Having girls and boys from Russia being able to play football games in other parts of Europe would help.\u201d<\/p>\n

On 17 December the Fifa<\/a> council announced plans for a new U-15 festival, with a boys\u2019 event to be staged next year and a girls\u2019 event in 2027. A media release confirming the council\u2019s decisions said the events would \u201cbe open to all 211 FIFA member associations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Infantino also dismissed the notion there might be a boycott of this summer\u2019s World Cup due to policies adopted at home and abroad by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

There has been unrest in a number of US cities \u2013 most notably Minneapolis \u2013 over the administration\u2019s approach to immigration enforcement, while the Greenland threats raised concerns among the US\u2019 traditional allies in western Europe.<\/p>\n

Infantino said there were never calls for businesses to boycott a country, \u201cso why football?\u201d He added: \u201cIn our divided world, in our aggressive world, we need occasions where people can come, can meet around the passion [for football].\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has apologised over remarks he made about British fans and defended the decision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-404491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}