MELBOURNE, April 29 - The White House has pushed back against detractors who have criticised President Donald Trump receiving FIFA’s inaugural Peace Prize, saying there is no one more deserving of the honour.
FIFA presented the prize at the World Cup draw in December, citing the president for "promoting peace and unity around the world." The award prompted strong reactions in the months before the tournament from human rights organisations and activists.
Australian international Jackson Irvine publicly said this week that awarding the prize to Trump undermined FIFA’s own Human Rights Policy. Norway’s national soccer federation went further, calling for the prize to be abolished.
In response, the White House issued a statement defending the choice, highlighting what it called President Trump’s "Peace through Strength foreign policy" and asserting that it had ended eight wars in less than a year. "There is no one else in the world more deserving of FIFA’s first ever Peace Prize than President Trump. Anyone who thinks otherwise clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome," White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.
The United States is one of the hosts of this summer’s World Cup, which it is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19. The timing of the controversy follows a string of military actions referenced by the administration: a U.S. military strike on Venezuela a month after the World Cup draw and the start of joint airstrikes with Israel on Iran on February 28.
President Trump has frequently pointed to his record on international conflicts and has repeatedly suggested he merits recognition for those efforts, including saying on multiple occasions that he should receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Context and reactions
The dispute over the award has put FIFA’s decision-making and human rights stance under scrutiny from players, national federations and rights groups while the White House frames the prize as validation of its foreign policy approach. The debate arrives as the U.S. prepares to co-host one of the world’s largest sporting events this summer.