A close ally is creating a new honor that could help take the sting out of President Trump's failure to win this year's Nobel Peace Prize. FIFA has announced it will present its own award next month in Washington, officially named the FIFA Peace Prize-Football Unites the World. Trump plans to attend the Dec. 5 event at the Kennedy Center, where the draw for next year's World Cup will be held. Gianni Infantino, head of the international soccer body, is a frequent White House visitor and has joined Trump on international trips, the New York Times reports.
"In an increasingly unsettled and divided world, it's fundamental to recognize the outstanding contribution of those who work hard to end conflicts and bring people together in a spirit of peace," Infantino said Wednesday in a statement, per USA Today. Trump and his supporters have argued that he fits that description and lashed out when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela last month. Infantino has also given Trump one of three official replicas of the men's World Cup trophy and called their relationship "absolutely crucial" to FIFA's World Cup plans.
Trump, for his part, announced in August that the tournament draw would be moved to Washington, after FIFA had planned for months to hold the event in Las Vegas. "We are uniting the world, Mr. President, uniting the world, here in America," Infantino said at the time. Trump spoke Wednesday at the America Business Forum in Miami, and Infantino was to address the group later in the day, per the AP. They also appeared together at a summit in Egypt on Oct. 13, soon after the ceasefire in Gaza took effect, per the Guardian.