Fifa awards Trump its first ever 'peace prize'

Fifa had pledged an apolitical event, but this was anything but. 

On a snowy Friday at the prestigious John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, the football federation, in conjunction with the Trump administration, brought together celebrities, delegates from around the world, and almost the entirety of the president's cabinet and family to watch the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup Finals. 

The event was custom-made for Donald Trump. 

"Mr. President... you definitely deserve the first Fifa Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way, but you obtain it in an incredible way, and you can always count, Mr President, [on] my support and the support of the entire football community or soccer community to help you make peace and make the world prosper," Fifa boss Gianni Infantino said, as he awarded Trump a gold medal, a certificate, and a gold trophy far bigger than the World Cup itself. 

His remarks followed a video montage of Trump's meeting with world leaders, praising him for  - as he always puts it - "ending eight wars". 

"I don’t need prizes. I need to save lives,” Trump told reporters on the red carpet ahead of the event, remaining coy about whether he was, in fact, going to be the recipient of the inaugural peace prize.

It was perhaps Fifa's worst-kept secret when Infantino announced he'd created the award last month, given how much praise he'd heaped on the president.

Trump had also been banking all year on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, but instead it went to Venezuela's opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado. 

"This is truly one of the great honours of my life," Trump said on stage, without a hint of surprise. 

"We saved millions and millions of lives," he added, of his war-ending efforts. 

"You've set new records on ticket sales, and not to bring that up, because we don't want to bring a thing like that up right now, but it's an awfully nice tribute to you and to the game of football," he told Infantino, with whom he has had a personal friendship for many years.

"The numbers are beyond any numbers that anybody - even beyond what Gianni thought - was possible." 

In what were unusually brief and on-topic remarks for the US president, he paid tribute to the efforts of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who were both also in attendance.

"We work closely with those two countries and the coordination and friendship and relationship has been outstanding," he said. 

Controversy 

The Fifa code of ethics stipulates that "in dealings with government institutions, national and international organizations, associations and groupings, persons... shall remain politically neutral, in accordance with the principles and objectives of FIFA, the confederations, associations, leagues and clubs, and generally act in a manner compatible with their function and integrity". 

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Former chairman of Fifa’s governance committee, Miguel Maduro, suggested last month that Infantino violated that code with his comments that "we should all support what [Trump is] doing because I think it’s looking pretty good". 

"While he can recognise the legitimacy of President Trump, he should also recognise that, in a democracy, others can oppose his policies. To remain politically neutral requires not to take a position on that political debate, much less to argue that all should support President Trump’s policies," Maduro told The New York Times' sports publication, The Athletic.

"[Infantino] is taking a position in what is an internal political debate in the US," Maduro said.

But that's not the only scandal.

A few groups, including Hands Off the Arts, Free DC and CODEPINK, organised protests near the Kennedy Center to express their anger at Trump's crackdown on immigration, while he also touts a global event that is expected to draw between five and seven million people to the US, according to White House officials. 

They also oppose Trump's takeover of the city's - if not the country's - premier cultural institution.

The Kennedy Center's mission has been apolitical since 1971, and hosts some of the world's top exhibits, concerts, and theatrical productions. But not long after taking office, Trump fired the board and installed himself as chairman, along with his allies as members. 

The man who now runs the day-to-day events onsite is Trump's former ambassador to Germany from his first term, Richard Grenell. Grenell has no prior experience in the arts. 

A wave of senior staff resignations followed, and there are reports the Washington National Opera is looking to move out too. 

Under Trump, the Kennedy Center has hosted events for freed Israeli captives from Gaza along with their families, and a memorial event for the late right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. 

Trump has also floated the idea that Qatar could step in to pay for some interior renovations.

Qatar had previously contributed funds to The Reach, which is the Kennedy Center's recently constructed outdoor recreational space, a former staffer confirmed to Middle East Eye. 

As the US president sat alongside First Lady Melania Trump to watch the musical performances ahead of the drawings on Friday, it was perhaps unavoidable not to read into the lyrics sung by British popstar Robbie Williams, who urged "dignity for the weak in the arms of the brave". 

Alongside him in a duet was Tony Award winner Nicole Scherzinger, who sang that "love is the law". 

Fear

The man leading the White House Fifa World Cup 2026 Task Force made it clear earlier this week that the Trump administration cannot guarantee non-US citizens will be safe from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids at stadiums.

Federal coordination for the World Cup has been assigned to Andrew Giuliani, a longtime ally of Trump and the son of Trump's former lawyer and New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani. 

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At a press briefing with members of the foreign press corps, Andrew was pressed on fears among non-US citizens that ICE will carry out detention and deportation raids during the games, anywhere that fans may gather. 

"We're having continuous conversation with this," he responded. "The one thing [is], I've known the president for 25 years. The president does not rule out anything that will help make American citizens safer."

In July, a father of two young children was arrested by ICE at a Fifa Club World Cup game in New Jersey. Human Rights Watch issued a statement at the time calling for "immediate action to address US policies that create risk and threaten FIFA’s ability to uphold its stated values of human rights, inclusion, and global participation". 

Giuliani said the arrest was because the man flew a drone to take a family photo.

After the initial police encounter, when officers realised the man was not a US citizen, they handed him over to immigration officials. 

"There'll be zero tolerance for people flying their drones around these stadiums during these games, because we understand that we need to protect not just the physical barriers in there," he said. "You think about vehicle ramming, as we've seen, as a copycat event, but also against potential aerial issues as well." 

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has boasted of forcibly removing half a million people from the US in the past 10 months since Trump took office, with another 1.6 million "self-deporting" largely out of fear.