Trump, who has openly campaigned for the Nobel Peace Price, had been heavily favored to win the newly created FIFA prize. He and FIFA president Gianni Infantino are close allies, and Infantino had made it clear that he thought Trump should have won the Nobel for his efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.
“This is your prize, this is your peace prize,” Infantino said. He has repeatedly spoken about soccer as a unifier for the world, but the prize is a departure from the federation’s traditional focus on sport.
Trump told reporters upon arriving at the Kennedy Center that he didn’t know whether he was going to get the award, and added: “I don’t need prizes. I just want to save lives.”
FIFA has described the prize as one that rewards “individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world.”
It comes during a week where Trump’s administration has been under scrutiny for lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and as Trump hardens his rhetoric against immigrants.
The Nobel this year was eventually awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who said shortly after receiving the prize that she was dedicating it in part to Trump for “his decisive support of our cause.”
