FIFA President Gianni Infantino Faces Ethics Probe Over Trump Peace Prize – Arise News

By Reporter Ben On Dec 10, 2025

The FIFA Ethics Committee has been called upon to investigate President Gianni Infantino over allegations that he violated the governing body’s rules on political neutrality by publicly supporting US President Donald Trump.

The controversy stems from Infantino’s decision to award Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize during the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, DC, last week. In addition, the FIFA chief has made social media posts and given interviews expressing support for the 79-year-old president.

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Human rights advocacy group FairSquare submitted a formal complaint, claiming Infantino committed “four clear breaches” of FIFA’s neutrality rules. The letter argued that awarding such a prize to a sitting political leader constitutes “a clear breach of FIFA’s duty of neutrality” and stated that the FIFA president does not have the authority to unilaterally dictate the organisation’s mission, strategic direction, policies, or values.

During the lavish ceremony at the Kennedy Center, Infantino presented Trump with a large golden trophy, a medal, and a certificate, declaring in his speech: “This is what we want from a leader. You can always count, Mr. President, on my support.” A video preceding the presentation further highlighted Infantino’s praise for the US president.

The complaints also referenced Infantino’s October Instagram post, in which he stated that Trump “definitely deserves” the Nobel Peace Prize, and a November interview at the American Business Forum in Miami, where he urged public support for Trump’s policies, saying: “We should all support what [Trump] is doing [in the US] because I think it’s looking pretty good.”

FairSquare further pointed to a video posted on Instagram in January following Trump’s inauguration as evidence that Infantino had publicly endorsed the US president’s political agenda.

Nicholas McGeehan, FairSquare’s programme director, said: “This complaint is about a lot more than Infantino’s support for President Donald Trump’s political agenda. More broadly, this is about how FIFA’s governance structure has allowed Gianni Infantino to openly flout the organisation’s rules and act in ways that are both dangerous and directly contrary to the interests of the world’s most popular sport.”

Melissa Enoch