FIFA Awards Trump Inaugural "Peace Prize"
No, That Headline Was Not Made By ChatGPT
Friday, December 5th was a big day for the World Cup 2026 tournament. Despite controversies ranging from too many teams being in this and future tournaments to arena selections in danger of being changed, this World Cup is shaping up to be the wonkiest ever. Today was “draw day,” a procedure to determine which teams will be paired together in the opening group stages. I’ll get to the draw itself in a second, because what interested me was that the biggest takeaways came from the sitting President of the United States. Firstly, Donald J. Trump went on record to say the sport we call soccer in the United States was the one true ‘real football’ (sorry NFL). I bet the pubs in Europe and Latin America rejoiced:
The second tidbit is what really tickled my fancy. Trump was awarded the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize. This prize, no relation to the OG Peace Prize homie Nobel, was given out to great fanfare, even though it raised a few eyebrows. From The Athletic:
Around 30 minutes into a glitzy show here at the Kennedy Center, prior to the drawing of teams into World Cup groups, Infantino awarded Trump a new golden trophy, a golden medal and a certificate, and told the U.S. President: “This is your prize, this is your peace prize.”
Trump, in a relatively brief acceptance speech, then addressed the audience of around 2,000 people. “This is truly one of the great honors of my life. And beyond awards,” he said, before referencing conflicts he helped end, “we saved millions and millions of lives.” - Source
OK current geopolitics aside, this raises a whole slew of questions and most of them start with “Why?”
Like, why is the award itself so ugly? Like, when I think of the word “peace,” you know what I’m not thinking of? A statuette that evokes a quartet of mangled, undead hands reaching for a meatball.
Also, what is even “peace” in this context? Other sports have awards for sportsmanship or community service. But peace? FIFA peace? FOOTBALL peace?? Is there a to-the-death version of The Beautiful Game I’ve been missing out on?
Why did Trump call an award that was given out for the first time ever “one of the greatest honors of his life?” It’s not even a lifetime achievement award nor a philanthropic one. But somehow showing peace around FIFA is greatest-honor worthy? How so? What does it mean? I demand to see an updated “Greatest Honor” power ranking.
Look, I’m not even mad at ol’ Prez, here. If the New York Mets wanted to offer me the “Lifetime Mets Respect Prize,” I’d take off work to high-five Mr. Met at an overblown ceremony in a heartbeat. It’s clear that FIFA is setting a precedent, where every World Cup-host head of state (or sovereign wealth fund manager) will have the opportunity to acquire this piece of hardware in the future. I just don’t know the qualifications here. I don’t recall if Trump ever played a game, broadcasted a game, invested in the game, or supported the game of soccer in any way before. Is it an investment thing? Were there any other nominees? Is Messi better than Ronaldo?
Somebody help me!
Funny, I bet the phrase “somebody help me” can also be heard from the trapped souls inside this monstrosity.
Anyway, the United States “drew” Paraguay, Australia, and a UEFA (European) team to be named later in their group. Nothing in soccerland is easy, but the United States has a golden opportunity to go on a deep run. Essentially, this could be their coming-out party.
You know, for Peace.