President Trump was awarded the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize on Friday for his “exceptional and extraordinary actions” in promoting unity across the globe – with the commander-in-chief describing the inaugural award “one of the greatest honors of my life.”
“This is your prize, this is your peace prize,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said as he bestowed the honor ahead of the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, DC.
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Trump accepted a gold medal and put it around his own neck as the FIFA boss heaped praise on him for his actions in promoting world peace.
“This is what we want from a leader — a leader that cares about the people,” Infantino said.
Trump, who had his sights on the Nobel Peace Prize, was also presented with a gold trophy bearing his name and a pair of hands holding up the world.
“This is truly one of the great honors of my life,” Trump said as he hailed the fact he had ended wars and “saved millions and millions of lives.”
“The world is a safer place now,” he continued.
“The United States, one year ago, was not doing too well, and now I have to say we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world that we’re going to keep it that way.”
World soccer’s governing body had announced last month that it was introducing the annual award — officially known as the “FIFA Peace Prize – Football Unites the World.”
Trump, who is chummy with the FIFA boss, had been heavily favored to win the newly created prize.
Still, Trump insisted he had zero prior knowledge that he would take home the inaugural gong as he walked the red carpet ahead of the draw.
“I don’t know that I’m getting it. I haven’t been officially noticed. I’ve been hearing about a peace prize — and I’m here to represent our country in a different sense,” Trump told reporters as he lapped up the cameras.
He stressed, though, that he didn’t need the accolades.
“I want to really save lives, not only prizes, I need to save lives,” he said.
“I’m saving a lot of lives. I saved millions and millions of lives — and that’s really what I want to do.”
After accepting the award, Trump suggested American football needed a new name because soccer is truly football, as the sport is known outside the US.
“This is football –there is no question,” Trump told the crowd. “We have to come up with another name for the other one. It really does not make sense when you think about it.”
Infantino, for his part, has previously made it clear that he believed Trump should have been given the Nobel for his efforts to broker a cease-fire in Gaza.
Trump missed out on the Nobel this year after it was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
Meanwhile, a defiant Trump insisted the FIFA peace prize didn’t conflict with his recent vow to strike Venezuelan drug traffickers.
“I mean, I settled eight wars,” he told reporters ahead of the draw when asked about the likelihood of him taking it home.
It comes after Trump threatened earlier this week to order strikes on land-based Venezuelan drug traffickers in an expansion of his military campaign — and added that Colombian operators were also at risk.
Since Sept. 2, the US military has attacked at least 22 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in international waters off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia, killing at least 83 people.
