President Donald Trump helped launch the 2026 FIFA World Cup festivities in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Dec. 5, where he was also presented with a newly created FIFA peace prize.
Trump attended the World Cup Draw alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, helping to determine the group-stage matchups for the tournament that will be hosted jointly by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Before the draw was announced, the U.S. president received FIFA’s first-ever Peace Prize, an honor introduced this year. The event also featured performances from some of Trump’s favorite artists, including Andrea Bocelli and the Village People.
Andrew Giuliani, the son of Rudy Giuliani and executive director of Trump’s White House Task Force on the 2026 World Cup, praised Trump’s role in a statement.
“The president is the consummate host,” he said, adding, “Is there any other president that can handle inviting the world in and being a better host than Donald J. Trump?”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who presented the award, credited Trump’s approach to diplomacy.
“You definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way, but you obtained it in an incredible way,” Infantino said. “And you can always count, Mr. President, on my support, on the support of the entire … soccer community to help you make peace and make the world prosper.”
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The peace prize follows a bumpy start to Trump’s World Cup-related tenure earlier in the year, during the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup hosted in the U.S. At that tournament, Trump was accused of pocketing one of the championship medals intended for Chelsea players and of keeping the real championship trophy at the White House while a duplicate was presented to the winning team.
“[FIFA] said, ‘Could you hold this trophy for a little while?’ We put it in the Oval Office and then I said, ‘When are you going to pick up the trophy?’ and [Infantino] said, ‘We’re never going to pick it up, you can have it forever in the Oval Office,’ ” the president claimed in a mid-game interview.
Alongside those controversies, Trump’s role as host nation leader has drawn criticism from human rights advocates, who point to his administration’s foreign travel bans and immigration enforcement tactics as a potential threat to the inclusive spirit of a global sporting event.
Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, warned in a June statement, “FIFA should publicly acknowledge the threat U.S. immigration and other antihuman rights policies pose to the tournament’s integrity and use its leverage with the U.S. government to ensure that the rights of all qualified teams, support staff, media, and fans are respected as they seek to enter the United States regardless of nationality, gender identity, religion, or opinion.”
In July, 90 civil society groups signed an open letter urging FIFA to press Trump on immigration and travel issues ahead of the World Cup.
“We call on FIFA to use its influence to encourage the U.S. government to guarantee the fundamental rights of the millions of foreign visitors and fans who seek entry to the U.S. to attend the tournaments, and those of the constitutional rights of the many immigrants who already live, work, and contribute meaningfully to the cities selected to host them,” the letter read.
Within his administration, Trump has been promoted as a “peace president” during his second term. Tied to his frequent and disputed claim that he has resolved eight wars and counting, Trump repeatedly voiced his desire this year to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The award ultimately went instead to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in October.
On Dec. 3, the State Department underscored this peace-focused branding by renaming the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
“This morning, the State Department renamed the former Institute of Peace to reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history,” a post shared by the State Department on X reads. “Welcome to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. The best is yet to come.”
