October 16: After a Council meeting, FIFA will review its Peace Prize, but the controversial award may be on its way.
Last December, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino awarded the organization’s first peace prize to Donald Trump, but the US president could become the first and last recipient of the award after demands by the FIFA Council to review and even scrap it.
A review of whether it should continue has been sent to FIFA’s Football Social Responsibility Committee, with FIFA saying “a decision will be taken at the next Council meeting in December 2026”.
Myanmar’s Zaw Zaw chairs FIFA’s Social Responsibility Committee. There are other members from all over the world. The committee will make a recommendation ahead of the next FIFA Council meeting on December 16 in Doha, Qatar.
Infantino’s awarding of the Peace Prize at the World Cup draw in Washington DC sparked a global backlash from football and civil society. FIFA’s code of ethics states that officials at the world governing body must remain neutral, but the award reflects Infantino’s continued adulation of the US president.
Infantino had had a relationship with Trump, which culminated during the World Cup when the US president called out Infantino for demanding a review of the suspension of US forward Folarin Balogun before the Round of 16 match with Belgium. However, after the end of the tournament, the pair did not meet.
At the time, FIFA Council member and DFB president Bernd Neuendorf was among those advocating the Peace Prize, although FIFA’s executive board had not been consulted. He said: “And what’s wrong with the award when it brings people together? I think it’s good.” In Zurich on Thursday, the German FA boss was one of Infantino’s staunchest critics, calling for a complete overhaul of the world federation’s governance.
The questions about the Peace Prize were part of a wider discussion by members of the predominantly European Council of FIFA’s boss, who has single-handedly created the biggest scandal to face the organization since FIFAGate in 2015, with his attempt to sell the World Cup to private equity investors a final step too far for most football leaders, if not all of FIFA’s association members.
It has led to repeated calls and attempts by UEFA and major football stakeholders to expel Infantino. At the Council, Infantino faced a series of questions about FFE, the Peace Prize, the Balogun case, his luxury house in Miami paid for by FIFA and FIFA’s finances.
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