FIFA’s Gianni Infantino faces ethics complaint over Trump peace prize

Rights group FairSquare accuses world football governing body of ‘openly flouting’ its own rules on political neutrality.Published On 10 Dec 2025FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s effusive praise for Donald Trump and the decision by the world football governing body to award a peace prize to the US president have triggered a formal complaint over ethics violations and political neutrality.Human rights group FairSquare said on Tuesday that it has filed a complaint with FIFA’s ethics committee, claiming the organisation’s behaviour was against the common interests of the global football community.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Infantino’s ‘Peace Prize’ to Trump raises questions about FIFA’s neutralitylist 2 of 3Top 10 games, groups of death: All to know about the FIFA World Cup drawlist 3 of 3Trump gets FIFA’s new peace prizeend of listThe complaint stems from Infantino awarding Trump FIFA’s inaugural peace prize during the December 6 draw for the 2026 World Cup to be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico in June and July.“This complaint is about a lot more than Infantino’s support for President Donald Trump’s political agenda,” FairSquare’s programme director Nicholas McGeehan said.“More broadly, this is about how FIFA’s absurd governance structure has allowed Gianni Infantino to openly flout the organisation’s rules and act in ways that are both dangerous and directly contrary to the interests of the world’s most popular sport,” said McGeehan, head of the London-based advocacy group.According to the eight-page complaint from the rights group filed with FIFA on Monday, Infantino’s awarding of the peace prize “to a sitting political leader is in and of itself a clear breach of FIFA’s duty of neutrality”.“If Mr. Infantino acted unilaterally and without any statutory authority this should be considered an egregious abuse of power,” the rights group said.