WATCH: FIFA President Presents Trump With Newly-Created ‘Peace Prize’ Amid Ongoing Gaza Genocide

FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Friday presented U.S. President Donald Trump with its first-ever “FIFA Peace Prize.”

Infantino, who The Guardian has called one of Trump’s “closest sporting allies,” said it will be awarded annually “on behalf of the billions of football-loving people from around the world” to a “distinguished individual who exemplifies an unwavering commitment to advancing peace and unity throughout the world through their notable leadership and action.”

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He specifically praised Trump for the Abraham Accords and “the peace in the Middle East agreement regarding Gaza” — where Israel continues to massacre civilian men, women, and children in an ongoing U.S.-backed holocaust — as well as “the peace between Cambodia and Thailand” and “Rwanda and the DRC.”

“This is what we want from a leader,” Infantino gushed. “A leader that cares about the people. We want to live in a safe world; in a safe environment. We want to unite.”

“And you definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way, but you have obtained it in an incredible way.”

On October 9, 2025, Infantino said on Instagram that Trump “definitely deserves the Nobel Peace Prize,” which was ultimately awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado the following day.

Less than four weeks later, in early November, FIFA announced the new prize’s creation and said that it would be awarded a month later at the draw for the World Cup on December 5.

According to The Athletic, “FIFA’s announcement about the prize came as a surprise to the vast majority of the FIFA Council”:

The FIFA Council is comprised of 37 members, which is chaired by Infantino, as well as eight vice-presidents, and 28 other members elected by the member associations. Multiple sources familiar with the process, all of whom wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships, said the Council and FIFA’s vice-presidents were not consulted or involved in the creation of a FIFA peace prize and that it was not discussed at the prior FIFA Council. They have also not had input into the selection criteria for deciding a recipient. Some found out via a media release.

Earlier this week, The Athletic also revealed that Human Rights Watch (HRW) had written a letter to Infantino on November 11, roughly a week after the creation of the prize was announced, seeking more details:

The letter asked five questions:

1. What are the formal criteria FIFA will use to evaluate nominees for the FIFA Peace Prize?

2. Will FIFA publish these criteria before the December 5 award ceremony?

3. How will FIFA identify and receive nominations for the prize? Can you share a list of the nominees?

4. Who will serve as judges or decision-makers in selecting the recipient, and what are their qualifications?

5. We note that FIFA adopted the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and published a Human Rights Policy which guides FIFA’s operations. How will human rights considerations factor into the selection of the FIFA Peace Prize recipient(s)?

HRW reportedly gave him a deadline of November 20 for a response, but said they had not received one.

“The Nobel Committee often awards its Peace Prize to leaders who champion democracy and human rights, including those whose sacrifices include years as political prisoners,” HRW’s director of global initiatives Minky Worden is quoted as saying in the same Athletic piece. “Think of Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Liu Xiaobo of China—who died in state custody.”

“But this so-called ‘FIFA Peace Prize’ seems to have no nominees, no criteria, no judges and no process. So it will also have no legitimacy.”

As we’ve reported, Trump has repeatedly endorsed the full ethnic cleansing of Gaza, and has recently been urging Israeli president Isaac Herzog to pardon genocidal war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, who Trump calls a “good man,” “GREAT HERO,” and a “WARRIOR, like perhaps no other Warrior in the history of Israel,” and has reportedly now invited to the White House for the fifth time this year.

In addition to bombing Yemen and Iran without congressional approval, the U.S. has bombed Somalia over 100 times in 2025 alone, and is waging what Trump calls a “war” in the Caribbean Sea against supposed “narcoterrorists” from Venezuela, while threatening a potentially disastrous escalation.

“There’s a very receptive ear to doing exactly what they’re doing, taking out those boats,” Trump said this week. “And very soon we’re gonna start doing it on land too. Because we know every route, we know every house... I think you’re gonna see it very soon on land.”

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