FIFA president Gianni Infantino was accused of violating his own organization’s rules on political neutrality after inventing an award and quickly giving it to his “close friend” Donald Trump last week before the United States hosted its first World Cup in decades.
Key data
FairSquare, a nonprofit that says it works to “prevent sporting institutions from contributing to harm and suffering,” filed an official complaint with FIFA’s Ethics Committee this week over what it called Infantino’s “repeated violations” of the organization’s neutrality law, The Athletic first reported.
The complaint was sparked by Infantino’s presentation on Friday of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to Trump, an honor that Infantino invented and announced last month without prior approval from the organization’s board of directors, called the FIFA Council.
FairSquare called on FIFA’s Ethics Committee to investigate how Trump received the award and also highlighted other occasions when Infantino has openly flouted his support for Trump, including an Instagram post on inauguration day in which the FIFA leader said he and Trump would “not only make America great again, but also the whole world.”
FairSquare stated that Infantino “does not have the authority to unilaterally dictate the mission, strategic direction, policies and values of the organization,” adding that the Peace Prize ordeal was just his latest performance “in ways that are dangerous and directly contrary to the interests of the world’s most popular sport.”
Infantino did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment on Tuesday.
More context: Donald Trump is awarded the first FIFA Peace Prize
Crucial ideals
“The granting of an award of this nature to a sitting political leader is in itself a clear violation of FIFA’s duty of neutrality,” FairSquare’s letter to the Ethics Committee states.
Key background
The timing of the FIFA Peace Prize’s creation, as well as Infantino’s well-documented relationship with and admiration for Trump, have led to the assumption that the FIFA prize was seen as a consolation following Trump’s exclusion for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel, the most prestigious award of its kind, was awarded to Venezuelan opposition politician María Corina Machado, despite Trump’s open and repeated campaign to obtain the honor. The White House accused the Nobel Committee of putting politics before peace after Trump’s exclusion.
The FIFA award ceremony took place on Friday on the sidelines of the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, DC, during which Infantino praised Trump’s “exceptional and extraordinary actions to promote peace and unity around the world.”
Accepting the award, Trump called the award “truly one of the great honors of my life.” FIFA states that the award will be given each year “to individuals who, through their unwavering commitment and special actions, have helped unite people around the world in peace and therefore deserve special and unique recognition.”
Major critics
The FIFA award has been criticized for its closed-door process, as nominees were never announced and FIFA spokespeople refused to reveal how or who would choose the winner. On Monday, the hosts of the talk show “The View” mocked Trump’s victory by handing out their own fake medals, saying: “If you show up with a trinket, preferably covered in gold, and give it to the 3-year-old in the Oval Office, he will have fun and be happy.” Comedian and host Jon Stewart called the award a “golden butt plug” and claimed it was “created specifically to appease Trump.”
This article was originally published by Forbes US
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