Topics: FIFA, Donald Trump
FIFA gave a clear stance on Donald Trump being awarded the governing body's inaugural peace prize prior to the US president announcing "major combat operations" against Iran.
With just months away from the World Cup, where 11 American cities will stage games, the US and Israel have staged a joint military operation which included strikes at multiple locations across the Middle Eastern country.
Political tensions between the US and Iran have heightened in recent times and Trump's play has come in a bid to "to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground".
The decision to do so comes not long after Trump was celebrated by FIFA ahead of the 2026 World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
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The 79-year-old was named the first ever FIFA peace prize winner and on top of the award, received a commemorative medal and certificate on stage.
Following a video package, FIFA president Gianni Infantino described Trump as a "a leader that cares about the people" and his work in getting Congo DR and Rwanda to sign a historic peace treaty and helping bringing about a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine was highlighted.
In his speech, Trump claimed that he had saved “tens of millions of lives” through interventions and that he had “stopped wars happening just before they started”.
Since then, the Trump administration has taken military action in Venezuela and now Iran, as well as threats made against Mexico, Colombia, and Greenland.
There were reports from The Guardian that there was a growing sense of embarrassment from FIFA about celebrating Trump
But in January, FIFA defended their decision to give Trump the award, with a spokesperosn commenting: "FIFA strongly supports its annual peace prize, an award to recognise exceptional actions for peace and unity. Fifa notes the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize recipient [the Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado] has given her medal to President Trump.
“FIFA has strong relations with President Trump, along with leaders from fellow co-hosts Canada and Mexico. This has resulted in good working relationships leading to, for example, in the US, the formation of the White House Task Force for the FIFA World Cup.”
In addition, during an interview with Sky News, Infantino did not change his stance and, "whatever we can do to help peace in the world, we should be doing it" hailed Trump as being "instrumental in resolving conflicts and saving lives and saving thousands of lives."
The pair have been working alongside one another ahead of the World Cup, where the US are hosting 78 of the 104 games.
Iran, one of the 38 countries on Trump's ban list, responded with missiles aimed at Israel that were seen in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.
The developments are extremely worrying ahead of one of the biggest sporting events of all time.
SPORTbible has approached FIFA for comment.
