Growing sense of embarrassment at Fifa over Donald Trump peace prize
Source: The Guardian
Growing sense of embarrassment at Fifa over Donald Trump peace prize
• Mid-level and senior officials uncomfortable with award
• Fifa says it still ‘strongly’ supports the peace prize
Exclusive by Osasu Obayiuwana in Rabat
Sun 18 Jan 2026 12.00 GMT
Last modified on Sun 18 Jan 2026 12.02 GMT
There is a growing sense of embarrassment among mid-level and senior officials within Fifa over the awarding of its peace prize to Donald Trump. The US president was handed the award at the World Cup draw in Washington DC in December with the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, telling Trump: “We want to see hope, we want to see unity, we want to see a future. This is what we want to see from a leader and you definitely deserve the first Fifa Peace Prize.”
Since then, the US has launched airstrikes across Venezuela and captured the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them to the US, where he was put in jail. Maduro appeared in court on 5 January, pleading not guilty to drugs, weapons and “narco-terrorism” charges. Trump has also threatened to invade Greenland because he said the US needs the territory “very badly”.
There was unease within Fifa at the time of Trump receiving the award with the governing body not disclosing any details of the selection process. Now, though, that has shifted to “deep embarrassment”, according to one senior Fifa source. Multiple officials have expressed their unease of the way it was handled.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jan/18/embarrassment-fifa-donald-trump-peace-prize
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