The main event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Friday will feature the draw for the 2026 World Cup, but the undercard could be the real prize for President Donald Trump.
Trump reportedly is expected to receive FIFA's inaugural "Peace Prize — Football Unites the World," which international soccer's governing body said will reward "individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world."
Trump missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize this year despite his administration's involvement in several global peace efforts.
One example is a treaty signed Thursday by Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Washington, D.C., at the recently renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
Trump and Gianni Infantino, who has been FIFA's president since 2016, reportedly have had a close relationship since Trump's first term, when the U.S. won the right along with Mexico and Canada to host the 2026 World Cup.
During a visit to the Oval Office in 2018, Infantino gave Trump souvenir red and yellow cards, joking they could be used on the media.
During the FIFA Club World Cup draw in December, Trump sent a prerecorded message while his grandson Theodore Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump made the ceremonial first pick.
Trump later joined Infantino on the field to present the Club World Cup trophy after Chelsea won the tournament in July.
Infantino wrote Oct. 9 on Instagram that Trump "definitely deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his decisive actions" in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists.
The Nobel Prize eventually went to María Corina Machado, who leads the party opposing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Infantino announced the prize during the America Business Forum in Miami on Nov. 5.
"We have to support anyone who is doing something special for peace. So we thought we have to bring to life the FIFA Peace Prize [to recognize] somebody who has done so much, or is doing so much for peace, because we need that.
"[Soccer] helps a little bit, but then we need leaders who push it into the goal, right, and to score the goal."
He added that although soccer brings people and communities together, it also is important to acknowledge the efforts of leaders who promote peace.
Human Rights Watch, a global advocacy group, has complained about transparency regarding FIFA's process in awarding the prize.
It said Wednesday it wrote to FIFA in November to request a list of the nominees, the judges, the criteria, and the process for the prize. It said it has yet to receive a reply.
"FIFA's so-called peace prize is being awarded against a backdrop of violent detentions of immigrants, National Guard deployments in U.S. cities, and the obsequious cancellation of FIFA's own anti-racism and anti-discrimination campaigns," Minky Worden, who oversees sports for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
"There is still time to honor FIFA's promises for a World Cup not tainted by human rights abuses, but the clock is ticking."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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