FIFA is under criticism for awarding the Peace Prize to Trump sports

Norwegian Football Association President Lise Klavens said on Monday that FIFA should cancel the Peace Prize it awards to avoid being drawn into political matters, suggesting that the awarding of such awards should be left to the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

“We (the Norwegian Football Association) want to cancel (the FIFA Peace Prize). We do not believe that awarding such an award falls within FIFA’s jurisdiction. We believe that the Nobel Institute is already carrying out this task independently,” Klavens said in an online press conference.

“We believe it is important for the Football Associations and Confederations, as well as FIFA, to seek to avoid any situations where their independence from the leaders of countries is questioned. Such awards are usually highly politicized if effective tools and sufficient expertise are not available to ensure their true independence, through independent judging committees, clear criteria, etc..”

“This requires full-time work, which is extremely sensitive. I believe it should also be avoided in the future, both from a resource standpoint, and from a mandate standpoint, but most importantly above all from a governance standpoint,” she added.

The 45-year-old lawyer said that the Norwegian Football Association will write a letter saying that it supports calls for an investigation into the awarding of the award by the non-profit organization Fairsquare, which claimed that Infantino and FIFA may have violated their own ethical guidelines regarding political neutrality in awarding the award.

“There must be checks and balances on these issues, and this complaint from Versquare must be dealt with according to a transparent timeline, and the reasoning and conclusion must be transparent,” Klavins said.

FIFA, headed by Gianni Infantino, was subjected to severe criticism for awarding the first edition of the Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump last December, during the 2026 World Cup draw ceremony.

Many viewed the Peace Prize awarded by FIFA as a consolation prize for Trump, who has stated on numerous occasions that he deserves to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and whose country will host the World Cup this year in partnership with Canada and Mexico.