During the 2026 World Cup draw on Friday, FIFA awarded President Donald Trump the first-ever “FIFA Peace Prize” – a gold medal and a major trophy that are definitely not a consolation prize after he lost the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino praised Trump as he presented the award “in recognition of his exceptional and extraordinary actions to promote peace and unity around the world.”
A video played before Trump took the stage described him as “a dynamic leader who has engaged in diplomatic efforts that have created opportunities for dialogue, de-escalation and stability, and who has championed the unifying power of soccer on the world stage.”
When reporters asked about the upcoming award earlier in the day, the president repeated a version of his own misleading claimand says he has settled “eight wars.”
Trump gave a brief acceptance speech after receiving FIFA’s submissive new award, calling it “one of the great honors” of his life before focusing on ticket sales for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which he claimed are going well.
“The numbers exceed all numbers,” the president noted.
Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Trump claims Machado called him afterward and said she was accepting the award in Trump’s honor because he was the one who “really deserved it.”
Infantino and Trump are close allies. So close, in fact, that Infantino let Trump keep the 24-carat gold-plated Club World Cup trophy in July, forcing FIFA to issue a replica of the tournament’s trophy. factual winning team.
Trump’s acceptance of a peace prize coincides with growing anger over actions seen as a potential war crime committed by his administration during an attack on suspected drug smugglers in September.
The president also recently pardoned a former Honduran president who was sentenced to decades in prison for flooding the United States with hundreds of tons of cocaine.
