Fifa president Gianni Infantino has announced the creation of a new Fifa peace prize, to be awarded annually to individuals who unite people through peace. The inaugural award will be presented on 5 December during the World Cup draw in Washington DC, an event US President Donald Trump is expected to attend.
The timing has drawn attention given Trump's well-documented interest in the Nobel peace prize, which he has aggressively campaigned for. After this year's Nobel went to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, senior White House aides denounced the decision, and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would rally parliamentary leaders to nominate Trump for next year's prize.
Infantino's announcement follows a month of peace-themed events involving both men. The Fifa chief joined Trump at a summit in Egypt shortly after a Gaza ceasefire, and later told investors in Riyadh that football should promote unity. Fifa also recently appointed Trump's daughter Ivanka to the board of a $100m education project part-funded by 2026 World Cup ticket sales.
The prize, formally named the 'Fifa Peace Prize – Football Unites the World', will be presented 'on behalf of all football-loving people'. Infantino has framed it as part of a wider campaign to position football as a force for dialogue, arguing that while the sport cannot solve conflict, it can carry a message of peace.
Critics have questioned the blurring of sport and diplomacy, as Fifa's close alignment with the Trump administration continues. Trump announced in August that the World Cup draw would take place in Washington, with Infantino declaring: 'We are uniting the world, Mr President, uniting the world, here in America.'
