Gianni Infantino knows how to win over Donald Trump.Image: keystone
FIFA President Infantino is criticized for his closeness to US President Trump. A human rights organization sees this as a breach of the rules of the world football association and has filed a complaint.
Dec 10, 2025, 03:51Dec 10, 2025, 03:51
A British human rights organization is accusing Fifa President Gianni Infantino of violating the world football association’s code of ethics because of his relationship with US President Donald Trump. The organization FairSquare sent a letter of complaint to the Fifa Ethics Committee on Monday following the widely criticized award of the new Fifa Peace Prize to Trump at the draw for next year’s World Cup.
Specifically, the organization, which deals, among other things, with sports policy and workers’ rights, accuses the Swiss Infantino of violating political neutrality. At the request of the German Press Agency, FairSquare confirmed the complaint submitted and referred to “four breaches” of FIFA rules by Infantino in the past few months. Several media outlets had previously reported on the complaint.
Among other things, FairSquare refers to an Instagram post by Infantino on October 9th, in which the 55-year-old wrote in the wake of the Israel conflict:
“President Donald J. Trump undoubtedly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his decisive actions.”
Multiple criticisms of the Peace Prize awards
The organization cites the fourth article of FIFA’s statutes, which states that the world association must remain politically neutral. “Exceptions can be made in matters that affect FIFA’s statutory objectives,” it continues.
FIFA had been asked to respond to the complaint. After the awarding of the peace prize and the closeness between Trump and Infantino met with massive criticism worldwide, the world association recently declared: “In order to organize an event of the size of the FIFA World Cup, it is absolutely essential to build a cooperative relationship with the government authorities of the host countries,” said the world association in response to a dpa query on Sunday. “Bild” first reported on this reaction.
Since the award, Infantino has maintained “close relationships” with Trump and with the heads of state and government of the co-organizers Canada and Mexico, FIFA said. According to the statutes, the Fifa President strives “to maintain and develop good relationships between Fifa, the confederations, the member associations, political bodies and international organizations.” As president, Infantino must have “good relationships” with the heads of state of the host countries in order to ensure a successful event.
Sources used:
- With material from the dpa news agency