FIFA Council Sends Trump Peace Prize to Committee Review, With Decision Due at Dec. 16 Doha Meeting

Since FIFA created its peace prize in November 2025 and gave the first one to Donald Trump a month later, the award has been a running complaint inside the organization. On Thursday, Oct. 15, in Zurich, it finally landed on the council's agenda.

Gianni Infantino told the 37-member council at the start of the meeting that the prize was being handed to FIFA's Football Social Responsibility Committee. "It was decided that the Football Social Responsibility Committee will be tasked to analyze it, provide a proposal, and also, there, a decision will be taken at the next FIFA Council meeting," Infantino said, as quoted by USA Today. That meeting is scheduled for Dec. 16 in Doha.

What the committee has been asked to examine

FIFA vice president Debbie Hewitt, who also leads the English Football Association, described the scope after the meeting. The committee will consider "how the Peace Prize came about, whether it should have come about, whether it should have been awarded in the way that it was, who made that decision and whether or not it should be taken out or whether it should be reformed," she said.

That last question, who made the decision, has never been answered publicly. FIFA has not disclosed how Trump was chosen. Infantino announced the prize at a Miami summit in November 2025, hours before Trump spoke at the same event, and presented Trump with a golden trophy, a medal and a certificate at the World Cup draw in Washington on Dec. 5, 2025.

What council members told The Guardian

The Guardian reports, citing its own sources inside the council, that several members demanded the prize be abolished and others asked that it be depoliticised. According to the paper, members raised the issue again later in the meeting during questions about possible conflicts of interest at FIFA.

The Guardian also reports that there is a strong view among members that the prize is tainted by its link to Trump. Some members fear he could object, and cause a diplomatic row, if a future recipient is someone he dislikes.

One council member told the paper the most likely outcome discussed is turning it into an award for an individual within football who has done exceptional work on social harmony and responsibility, with a rule that it cannot go to a politician. The committee is also expected to write a nomination and selection procedure.

The committee's makeup

The Guardian reports the 22-person committee is dominated by representatives from countries loyal to Infantino. Its reporting is that outright abolition may therefore be avoided, because scrapping the prize would humiliate the FIFA president. The same report says there is widespread acceptance that something must change.

The committee's recommendation is expected before the Doha meeting, and the council makes the final call.

Why the prize drew objections

FIFA said at the time that Trump "played a pivotal role in establishing a ceasefire and promoting peace between Israel and Palestine," a reference to the October 2025 ceasefire and hostage-exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas. It added that he had "actively sought to end other conflicts."

Critics argued a politically neutral sports body had no business running a peace prize at all. Article 2 of FIFA's statutes bars political or governmental interference in football. The UK-based rights group FairSquare asked FIFA's Ethics Committee to examine whether Infantino breached the organization's political impartiality rules. The Ethics Committee's response has not been made public.

Infantino has defended the award. In a Sky News interview in early February 2026, before the Iran war began, he said Trump had been "instrumental in resolving conflicts and saving lives" and said he expected Trump to receive a Nobel Peace Prize at some point. The Iran war is now in its eighth month, according to the Palm Beach Post, and the criticism inside FIFA grew after it started.

A council already in a fight with its president

The prize review was one item in a meeting dominated by other disputes. Infantino apologized for "mistakes" in the communication and consultation process behind FIFA Forward Enterprise, the now-dropped $4.2 billion plan to sell off commercial rights to the World Cup with an investor group led by Joshua Kushner. He called it "just a proposal, so in no way a done deal."

He provided no documents on the plan and no details on the Folarin Balogun red-card case, in which Trump intervened on behalf of the U.S. forward, European delegates told reporters. FIFA said in a separate statement that details of the investor project "remain confidential due to ongoing legal proceedings in the United States."

German federation president Bernd Neuendorf, one of eight UEFA delegates on the council, said: "No satisfactory answers were provided." Hewitt said of Infantino: "The man has to answer those questions. If he doesn't answer those questions, no, he is not fit to be the FIFA president."

Dates that matter

The Nov. 18 deadline to put forward a candidate against Infantino in the March presidential election falls before the Doha meeting. The committee's recommendation on the prize is therefore likely to land after UEFA and its allies have already decided whether to field a challenger.

Infantino has refused calls to resign and has said he will seek re-election. What the committee delivers by Dec. 16, and whether it explains who selected Trump and how, is the next concrete test of how far the council will push him.