FIFA’s first Peace Prize goes to Donald Trump in departure from its traditional focus on sport

President Donald Trump was awarded the new FIFA peace prize on Friday (December 5, 2025) at the 2026 World Cup draw — giving the spectacle to set matchups for the quadrennial soccer tournament even more of a Trumpian flair.
Mr. Trump, who has openly campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize, had been heavily favoured to win the newly created FIFA prize. He and FIFA president Gianni Infantino are close allies, and Infantino had made clear that he thought Mr. Trump should have won the Nobel for his efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.
The U.S. president was awarded the prize that Infantino said was a “beautiful medal for you that you can wear everywhere you want to go.” Mr. Trump promptly placed the medal around his neck. The certificate that Infantino handed Mr. Trump recognises the U.S. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. Trump, “this is your prize, this is your peace prize.”
Mr. 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 honours of my life,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. 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 (December 4) at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, where Mr. 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.”
The award to Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. Trump for “his decisive support of our cause.”