Throughout its history, FIFA has been characterized by a distancing from political situations, but that now appears to have changed direction. On Thursday, February 19, 2026, World Football Governing Body President Gianni Infantino attended the first meeting of the Peace Commission in Washington, DC.
This conference was established to end the war in Gaza, and brought together various important people from around the world in hopes of establishing a ceasefire. More than 45 representatives from all over the world attended.
Major U.S. allies were also scheduled to attend, but Britain, France and Germany declined the invitation. Israel sent a representative, but a Palestinian representative also did not attend.
Gianni Infantino attended the meeting
Some attendees were given red hats with “USA” written on them. The numbers 45 to 47, representing Trump’s two presidencies, were visible on the sides. The FIFA president simply put on his cap.
This is seen as a clear violation of Article 5 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, which states that the individuals involved must remain politically neutral.
It is worth recalling that during the draw for the last World Cup, Mr. Infantino got very close to Mr. Trump, turning the tournament into an overly political one never seen before, while seemingly trying to please the US president in every way.
It should also be remembered that in December 2025, London-based non-profit human rights organization Fair Square filed an ethics complaint with FIFA for violating the organization’s code of conduct.
The complaint is about more than Infantino’s support for President Donald Trump’s political policies. More broadly, this is how FIFA’s absurd governance structure allowed Gianni Infantino to openly flout the organization’s rules and conduct actions that were dangerous and directly against the interests of the world’s most popular sport.
Fair Square Program Director Nicholas McGehan said:
Gianni Infantino receives Trump Peace Prize
As mentioned above, the World Cup draw took place in December, during which Trump was awarded a non-existent trophy, sparking a wave of massive criticism of world soccer’s governing body and its president.
I would like to thank Gianni and FIFA for all the great things they have done and are currently doing.
They gave me my first Peace Prize. They gave me the Peace Prize. I think they saw that I was screwed over by Norway and said let’s give him the peace prize.
Mr. Trump said.
Today, Gianni Infantino once again finds himself in the middle of a storm for politicizing a tournament that has long stayed away from such scenarios.
