Not long after President Trump missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize that he openly campaigned for, his friend Gianni Infantino got to work.
Mr. Infantino, president of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, who had publicly lobbied for Mr. Trump to receive the peace prize, simply had his organization establish its own. The announcement of the “FIFA Peace Prize — Football Unites the World” was so hastily arranged that it surprised several of the body’s most senior officials, including board members and vice presidents, according to four soccer executives briefed on the events.
On Friday, FIFA is scheduled to announce the award winner along with the draw for the 2026 men’s World Cup finals. While the results of the draw will be unpredictable, there is little doubt about who will receive the peace prize.
Why FIFA established a peace prize owes less to sports and more to Mr. Infantino’s efforts to ingratiate himself with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Infantino has lauded Mr. Trump at almost every opportunity, attending events that have little to do with soccer, handing over major FIFA trophies to Mr. Trump and presiding over FIFA’s rental of office space in Trump Tower in New York two years after the organization opened a gleaming North American hub in Miami.
The Trump Tower office is empty much of the time, according to three of the executives and a fourth official, all of whom are familiar with how FIFA uses the space. They, like others cited in this article, requested anonymity to to discuss private FIFA matters. FIFA did not answer questions beyond saying that the organization paid “market rent” for the Trump Tower office space.
Friday’s event is being held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, a public-private space whose leadership Mr. Trump has stacked with loyalists. Democrats have accused the Kennedy Center of giving FIFA a sweetheart deal to use the venue, a claim that the center has denied.
FIFA and Mr. Infantino have said that close relationships with the U.S. government and with Mr. Trump are vital to ensuring a successful World Cup. The tournament will be played mostly in the United States, with games also in Canada and Mexico, requiring elaborate coordination.
Mr. Trump has welcomed Mr. Infantino into his orbit, recently calling him “my boy” and embracing the planning for the World Cup. Mr. Trump established a government task force run by Andrew Giuliani, son of his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, to ensure the tournament goes smoothly.
As the Trump administration makes it more difficult for foreign travelers to obtain visas, a goal of the task force is to ensure visitors for the World Cup can enter quickly, officials have said. One initiative would prioritize visa appointments for World Cup ticket holders. (The past two World Cup hosts, Qatar and Russia, granted visa-free travel to ticket holders.)
Mr. Trump has also seized on the World Cup as a tool to wield influence, using the economic benefits that come with hosting a game as a political cudgel against Democratic politicians. He has threatened to pull World Cup matches from Boston, for example, after clashing with its mayor.
A White House spokesman, Davis Ingle, said that Mr. Trump was “excited to attend” the draw and that the administration’s partnership with Mr. Infantino would deliver “one of the most iconic sporting events in history.”
The relationship between the American president and Mr. Infantino dates to Mr. Trump’s first term, when FIFA selected the United States to co-host the 2026 World Cup. A regular in the Oval Office, Mr. Infantino has also traveled thousands of miles to attend events with Mr. Trump. After touring the Persian Gulf with Mr. Trump in May, Mr. Infantino arrived hours late to FIFA’s own annual meeting in Paraguay, prompting European soccer leaders to walk out.
Praise and privileges are offered in both directions. Mr. Trump invited Mr. Infantino to Egypt in October to mark the Gaza cease-fire deal. He was the only sports official there.
