What is the FIFA Peace Prize? Trump wins peace prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino; watch
FIFA launched a new Peace Prize Football Unites the World, awarding it for the first time to President Donald Trump during the 2026 World Cup draw.
On December 5, at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, D.C., FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented the inaugural Peace Prize to former U.S. President Donald Trump.
What is the FIFA Peace Prize?
The global football body FIFA announced in a press release on November 5, 2025, the creation of a new annual recognition titled the FIFA Peace Prize Football Unites the World.
The award is meant to honor “individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace” and worked to unite people worldwide through their efforts. Infantino described the award as not just a FIFA honour, but one from the world’s 5 billion football fans.
President Trump is the first recipient
In a ceremony where he donned a gold medal and accepted a trophy symbolizing global unity, Trump was praised for his “role” in global diplomacy, particularly his self-claimed involvement in brokering ceasefires and de-escalating conflicts around the world.
The award is a new category in the FIFA Council, and Trump is the very first recipient of the award.
Controversy surrounding the award
Human Rights Watch (HRW) publicly denounced the Peace Prize, noting that there has been “no transparent procedure, no nominees and no jury” for the award. HRW argued the Prize was “news even to the FIFA Council.”
HRW’s global sports director, Minky Worden, said the award comes “against a backdrop of violent detentions of immigrants, National Guard deployments in US cities, and the cancellation of FIFA’s own anti-racism and anti-discrimination campaigns.”
She warned that the Prize risks “tainting” the credibility of the sport and that the award risks trivializing real global peace efforts and ignoring continuing human-rights concerns.
