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NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump received the first-ever peace prize from FIFA on Dec. 5
- The president was on hand at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to announce the 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw, alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
- The three North American countries are set to co-host the international soccer tournament next year, with matches in 16 cities
- Trump’s administration has repeatedly sought to frame him as the peace president, including by renaming the U.S. Institute of Peace after him on Dec. 3
President Donald Trump helped kick off the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Dec. 5, and received a newly created peace prize in the process.
Trump attended the World Cup Draw alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Dec. 5, helping to determine which teams will compete against one another to make it to round-robin play in the world’s biggest soccer tournament.
Ahead of the draw announcement, the U.S. president received a peace prize from FIFA, the first-ever honor of its kind. There were also performances from some of Trump’s favorite artists, like Andrea Bocelli and the Village People.
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Andrew Giuliani, the son of Rudy Giuliani and executive director of Trump’s White House Task Force on the 2026 World Cup, said in a statement, “The president is the consummate host.”
He added, “Is there any other president that can handle inviting the world in and being a better host than Donald J. Trump?”
“You definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way, but you obtained it in an incredible way,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said. “And you can always count, Mr. President, on my support, on the support of the entire … soccer community to help you make peace and make the world prosper.”
Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty
The award comes after Trump’s World Cup leadership got off to a bit of a rocky start earlier this year with the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup. Trump was accused of pocketing one of the championship medals meant for the winning club, Chelsea, and even keeping the real championship trophy and presenting a duplicate to the winners.
“[FIFA] said, ‘Could you hold this trophy for a little while?’ We put it in the Oval Office and then I said, ‘When are you going to pick up the trophy?’ and [Infantino] said, ‘We’re never going to pick it up, you can have it forever in the Oval Office,’ ” the president claimed in a mid-game interview.
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In addition to tension among soccer fans, there has been global concern about the Trump administration overseeing an international tournament while they continue with foreign travel bans and immigration raids.
Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement in June, “FIFA should publicly acknowledge the threat U.S. immigration and other antihuman rights policies pose to the tournament’s integrity and use its leverage with the U.S. government to ensure that the rights of all qualified teams, support staff, media, and fans are respected as they seek to enter the United States regardless of nationality, gender identity, religion, or opinion.”
In July, 90 civil society groups signed an open letter urging FIFA to press Trump on his immigration and travel policies ahead of the massive sporting event.
“We call on FIFA to use its influence to encourage the U.S. government to guarantee the fundamental rights of the millions of foreign visitors and fans who seek entry to the U.S. to attend the tournaments, and those of the constitutional rights of the many immigrants who already live, work, and contribute meaningfully to the cities selected to host them,” the letter read.
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Trump’s administration has sought to frame him as the peace president during his second term.
Linked with his frequent and disputed claim that he has solved eight wars and counting, Trump repeatedly expressed interest in receiving the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize this year, which was instead awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in October.
On Dec. 3, the State Department renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., revealing that it will now be called the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
“This morning, the State Department renamed the former Institute of Peace to reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history,” a post shared by the State Department on X reads. “Welcome to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. The best is yet to come.”
