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December 5, 2025, Kennedy Center, Washington, World Cup Draw Ceremony. A reporter shoved a microphone in front of Trump: Do you know you're receiving an award today?
On December 5, 2025, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., during the World Cup draw ceremony, a reporter shoved a microphone in front of Trump: "Do you know you're receiving an award today?"
"I have not been told."
Even the recipient didn't know he was getting an award, but the trophy was still shoved his way. Infantino on stage was all smiles: "You absolutely deserve the first-ever FIFA Peace Award."
When the Nobel Committee wouldn't give it, FIFA just made one themselves.
Trump took it in stride, calling it "one of the greatest honors of my life," while bragging that he "saved millions of lives." Before the ceremony, outsiders had already dug up the details: no nomination record, no selection criteria, no independent judges—zero transparency in the entire process.
The first peace award was forcibly handed to a sitting president.
Three days later, the NGO FairSquare filed an ethics complaint with the FIFA investigatory chamber. The charge was locked in under Article 15 of the Ethics Code: the obligation of political neutrality.
Infantino had been "dribbling" this move for an entire year, just to pass the ball into the White House.
In January 2025, he posted a video on Instagram thanking Trump for inviting him to the inauguration, opening with "we will make not only America great." In August, he carried a replica of the World Cup trophy into the White House, and when Trump asked, "Can I keep it?" he nodded and bowed. In October, he publicly called on social media saying Trump "absolutely deserves the Nobel Peace Prize."
By December, awarding a peace prize to a sitting political figure turned a violation into a direct slam dunk.
Norwegian Football Association President Lise Klaveness couldn't stand it. She demanded the award be abolished: "This is not within FIFA's remit; it should be left to the Nobel Institute."
Of FIFA's 211 member associations, only a handful dared to show a red card.
The complaint vanished into thin air. Seven months later, on June 29, 2026, 50 European parliamentarians from 13 countries jointly wrote to Infantino and the FIFA Council. The lead came from lawmakers in Ireland, the Netherlands, and Denmark.
Irish MP Barry Andrews put it carefully: "Our request is simple—we just ask for a full investigation by the Ethics Committee."
FairSquare defined this joint action as the most significant political move against FIFA's governance since the 2015 call for Blatter's resignation. The last time political pressure reached this level, the goal was to oust Blatter.
Zurich headquarters played dead. No investigation launched, no reply to the letter, not even an "acknowledged."
The man in charge of the investigation was Martin Ngoga, Rwanda's ambassador to the UN. An ambassador to the UN investigating football ethics complaints—the lineup itself was surreal. The investigatory chamber he led didn't produce a single word in seven months. According to FIFA rules, violating the obligation of neutrality carries a minimum fine of 10,000 Swiss francs and a maximum ban of two years. The rules were black and white, but no one blew the whistle.
While lawmakers were signing the paper, Infantino was flying in the sky.
During the World Cup group stage, the Gulfstream G650ER private jet linked to him made 27 trips. BBC Verify tracked the data: total flight distance over 50,000 km, airtime over 66 hours, emitting about 516 tons of CO2 equivalent.
Carbon accounting firm Greenly gave a straightforward comparison: flying that jet for one hour emits as much as an average person in an entire year.
Infantino spent 66 hours in the air. Meanwhile, FIFA's official slogan was "the most sustainable World Cup ever."
The entire tournament's carbon footprint was also a mess. FIFA's own bid documents estimated 3.6 million tons, the UK's Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) independently calculated over 9 million tons, and Greenly put it at about 7.8 million tons. Infantino promised at COP26 in 2021 to halve carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2040.
Promises are promises, planes are planes.
50 lawmakers, 13 countries. The joint letter was sent almost a week ago.
There wasn't even an auto-reply in the Zurich headquarters' inbox. People who make their own trophies have already spun the rules into prayer beads.