Camille Naredo

U.S. President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. Dan Mullan, Getty Images/AFP

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 05: U.S. President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC.   Dan Mullan/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Dan Mullan / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

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FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1764975018960AFP__20251205__2250173482__v1__HighRes__FifaWorldCup2026OfficialDraw.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="U.S. President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. Dan Mullan, Getty Images/AFP" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">U.S. President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. <em>Dan Mullan, Getty Images/AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump became the first ever recipient of FIFA&#x27;s new peace prize at the 2026 World Cup draw Friday -- a compensation gift for a leader who still dreams of winning the Nobel.</p><p>Gianni Infantino, the head of world football&#x27;s governing body and a close ally of Trump, presented the 79-year-old with the award during the ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington.</p><p>&quot;Thank you very much. This is truly one of the great honors of my life. And beyond awards, Gianni and I were discussing this, we saved millions and millions of lives,&quot; Trump said.</p><p>&quot;The world is a safer place now.&quot;</p><p>Infantino said Trump won for &quot;exceptional and extraordinary&quot; actions to promote peace and unity around the world and presented him with a golden trophy and a certificate.</p><p>&quot;There is also a beautiful medal for you that you can wear everywhere you want to go,&quot; Infantino said.</p><p>Trump immediately put it around his neck, saying: &quot;I&#x27;m going to wear it right now.&quot;</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/11/18/trump-unveils-fast-track-visas-for-world-cup-ticket-holders-1247">READ: Trump unveils fast-track visas for World Cup ticket holders</a></div><p>FIFA announced the annual prize in November, saying it would recognize people who bring &quot;hope for future generations.&quot;</p><p>But its inaugural recipient was hardly a surprise.</p><p>Infantino, 55, has developed a tight relationship with Trump, visiting the White House more than any world leader since Trump&#x27;s return to office in January.</p><p>The US president often insists that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending what he says are eight conflicts this year. These include a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, although an end to Russia&#x27;s war in Ukraine eludes him.</p><p>Infantino has traveled as far afield as Egypt and Malaysia to attend three ceremonies for Trump-brokered peace deals in recent months.</p><p>Trump has put himself at the head of a &quot;board of peace&quot; for war-torn Gaza, while his administration this week renamed a Washington peace institute after him.</p><p>But Trump was overlooked by the Norwegian Nobel Committee last month as it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/9/29/fifpro-sounds-alarm-over-extreme-conditions-at-2026-world-cup-2123">READ: FIFPro sounds alarm over &#x27;extreme&#x27; conditions at 2026 World Cup</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Backdrop of violent detentions&#x27; -</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E4PjHELPO-8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>The US leader has meanwhile made the World Cup a centerpiece of his second presidency, and of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of US independence next year.</p><p>Yet it was an extraordinary gesture for FIFA, a sporting organization that trumpets its political neutrality.</p><p>There has been little transparency around the prize. Human Rights Watch says it has written to FIFA to request a list of the nominees, the judges, the criteria and the selection process -- and has received no response.</p><p>The prize came as Trump faces criticism from Democrats and rights groups on a host of issues.</p><p>The self-proclaimed &quot;president of peace&quot; has launched a huge US military build-up around Venezuela and ordered deadly airstrikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats.</p><p>He has also ordered a hardline migration crackdown, threatening to move World Cup games from cities where he has sent troops and freezing asylum decisions from 19 countries -- including World Cup participants Haiti and Iran.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/12/4/us-halts-immigration-applications-for-19-nations-0039">READ: US halts immigration applications for 19 nations</a></div><p>And he has cracked down on political opponents, rival ideologies and those who challenge his false claim he won the 2020 election.</p><p>The venue for the draw, the Kennedy Center, was where Trump installed himself this year as chairman in what he called a war on &quot;woke&quot; culture.</p><p>&quot;FIFA&#x27;s so-called peace prize is being awarded against a backdrop of violent detentions of immigrants, national guard deployments in US cities, and the obsequious cancellation of FIFA&#x27;s own anti-racism and anti-discrimination campaigns,&quot; Minky Worden, who oversees sport for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.</p>

<p>US President Donald Trump became the first ever recipient of FIFA's new peace prize at the 2026 World Cup draw Friday -- a compensation gift for a leader who still dreams of winning the Nobel.</p>

US President Donald Trump became the first ever recipient of FIFA's new peace prize at the 2026 World Cup draw Friday -- a compensation gift for a leader who still dreams of winning the Nobel.

Trump all smiles as he wins FIFA's new peace prize

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Trump all smiles as he wins FIFA's new peace prize

Danny Kemp,

Agence France-Presse

Published Dec 06, 2025 07:13 AM PHT

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FIFA

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Gianni Infantino

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