FIFA chief awards ally Trump the body's inaugural peace prize after Nobel miss

At 2026 World Cup draw, Gianni Infantino gives president ‘beautiful medal,’ gold trophy and certificate hailing work to ‘promote peace and unity around the world’

WASHINGTON (AP) — US President Donald Trump was awarded the new FIFA peace prize on Friday at the 2026 World Cup draw — giving the spectacle to set matchups for the quadrennial soccer tournament even more of a Trumpian flair.

Trump, who has openly campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize, had been heavily favored to win the newly created FIFA prize. He and FIFA president Gianni Infantino are close allies, and Infantino had made clear that he thought Trump should have won the Nobel for his efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.

The US president was awarded the prize that Infantino said was a “beautiful medal for you that you can wear everywhere you want to go.” Trump promptly placed the medal around his neck. The certificate that Infantino handed Trump recognizes the US president for his actions to “promote peace and unity around the world.”

“This is what we want from a leader — a leader that cares about the people,” Infantino said about Trump, who was also presented with a gold trophy with his name on it that depicts hands holding up the world. The FIFA leader said to Trump, “This is your prize, this is your peace prize.”

Trump thanked his family, including his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and praised the leaders of the other two host nations — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum — in his brief remarks, saying the coordination with the countries has been “outstanding.”

“This is truly one of the great honors of my life,” Trump said.

US President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, December 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Infantino has often spoken about soccer as a unifier for the world, but the prize is a departure from the federation’s traditional focus on sport.

The FIFA president was also on hand Thursday at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, where Trump and the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed a deal aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo.

FIFA has described the prize as one that rewards “individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world.”

(L-R) FIFA President Gianni Infantino, US President Donald Trump, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney take a selfie on stage during the draw for the 2026 FIFA Football World Cup taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico, at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, DC, on December 5, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

The award to Trump came during a week in which his administration has been engaged in shuttle diplomacy to try to end the war in Ukraine, while also under scrutiny for lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and as Trump hardens his rhetoric against immigrants.

The Nobel this year was eventually awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who said shortly after receiving the prize that she was dedicating it in part to Trump for “his decisive support of our cause.”