"This is truly one of the great honors of my life," Trump said as he accepted the award.
The award winner was hardly a surprise. Trump has been the assumed victor since FIFA announced the creation of the prize a month ago that it said would "reward individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace."
FIFA announced the award weeks after the Norwegian Nobel Committee passed Trump over for its prestigious peace prize in October. Trump had been angling to win the award, which he said again this week that he deserved for ending a variety of conflicts.
He had to settle for the newly-invented prize given out by soccer’s governing body, with FIFA President Gianni Infantino personally handing the trophy and a certificate to Trump, who also received a medal, during the draw at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
"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 football community, or soccer community to help you make peace and make the world prosper."
In the run-up to next summer’s World Cup, the FIFA boss has appeared with Trump on at least half a dozen occasions. He attended Trump’s inauguration in January and has visited Washington multiple times since.
He sat in the front row of a peace agreement signing between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo that Trump held in Washington on the eve of the draw.
