December 5 – FIFA’s plan to award their new peace prize with the likely recipient being US President Donald Trump has been met with further criticism, being described by NGOs and equality campaigners as “a sports washing tool” and “an insult to sports fans”.
The American capital is preparing for today’s World Cup draw, which will determine the fate of the 48 finalists at the expanded 2026 tournament and will mark another exhibition of president Gianni Infantino’s “close relationship” with Trump.
Wearing a red tie, the FIFA president attended Trump’s inauguration at the Capitol in January, and on Friday Infantino is expected to close out 2025 by presenting FIFA’s new peace prize to Trump.
Human Rights Watch said there has been no transparency in the decision making around the prize winner, noting that it had written to the world governing body requesting a list of nominees, judges, criteria and the process for the Peace Prize, but received no reply.
“FIFA’s so-called peace prize is being awarded against a backdrop of violent detentions of immigrants, national guard deployments in US cities, and the obsequious cancellation of FIFA’s own anti-racism and anti-discrimination campaigns,” said Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch. “There is still time to honour FIFA’s promises for a World Cup not tainted by human rights abuses, but the clock is ticking.”
In November, Infantino established the prize after backing Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, which the Norwegian committee instead awarded to Maria Machado of Venezuela. The South American country is currently facing a military build-up from US forces near its border.
Infantino argued that the US president deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for his Gaza/Israel ceasefire plan.
Jamal Watkins, senior vice-president at the NAACP, said: “Giving this president a prize saying he is an ambassador for peace is actually laughable.
“The relationship is too close for comfort, when Infantino aligns with Donald Trump you are literally sending a signal to the world that all the practices or policies coming out of this administration are ok or justified.”
Taking the criticism further, Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union said the award was offensive: “It is an insult to the intelligence of fans when you are coming up with this prize with no basis and very little transparency about this. The perception is that this is FIFA becoming part of a public relations tool to normalise an increasingly authoritarian government.”
Previously, responding to an editorial in The Guardian, Bryan Swanson, FIFA’s media director, defended the prize: “Only Fifa could be criticised for recognising those who want world peace.”
He wrote: “Rather than be criticised for endorsing peace in a divided world, Fifa should be recognised for what it is – a global governing body that wants to make the future a brighter place.”
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