A Chaotic and Politicized World Cup Lumbers Toward Kickoff
Trump’s veiled threats against Iranian players and feuds with Canada and Mexico loom large over the upcoming event.
Illustration: Felix Decombat for Bloomberg Businessweek
On Dec. 5, Gianni Infantino, the president of football’s worldwide governing body, awarded the FIFA Peace Prize to Donald Trump. FIFA had just come up with the award, which consisted of a trophy, medal and certificate recognizing him for his many peacemaking accomplishments. Wearing his medal, the US president stood glowingly onstage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (two weeks before his name would be added to the building). A month later he would send US special forces to Venezuela to capture the country’s president, and the next month he and Israel’s leader would start a war with Iran.
It’s hard to separate sports from politics, and FIFA has long given up any appearance of trying to do so. But even by the standards of the World Cup organizer, which routinely stumbles into political and cultural controversy, the peace prize was unusual. After all, the 2026 World Cup was supposed to be a more politically neutral event after the last two, in Russia and Qatar, faced allegations of corruption in 2015 around the selection process.