SFSA BLUE PLAQUES LAUNCH FIND OUT MORE
Date: 13th December 2025
Infantissimal
By Donald C Stewart
Let me begin by saying that I am no fan of Donald Trump. In fact, my involvement in a campaign in the 2020 presidential election in America, proves that I have always been very much against the man himself and the policies that he stands for.
I don’t think I’m alone. However, the one thing that I will agree upon, as indeed will many, is that he requires careful handling.
The World Cup draw, no matter what you thought of it, whether it be the overcomplicated way of it being pulled out of various bowls or how Rio Ferdinand dealt with it or how YMCA as an anthem was rather bizarre or the most bizarre of all the strangest of ever, is Donald Trump being awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.
Why shouldn’t it be bigger than the Nobel Peace Prize, somebody in FIFA asked. How many ways do you want me to tell you?
Given that in March 2025 Michel Platini was finally acquitted of corruption charges around the previous World Cup and his involvement in the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar in 2022, the current match fixing enquiry and scandal in Turkey within the chequered history of football, it is quite clear that, even though Nobel was involved in the manufacturing of explosives, he was never anywhere near as incendiary as the people involved in FIFA.
In fact, if we remember back to Qatar and the man in charge of FIFA, Gianni Infantino giving a strange and beyond palpable speech about feeling gay and an immigrant and all that, FIFA seems not to have changed that much when it was telling critics then to simply shut up.
But the Peace Prize? This was either a masterstroke or yet another example of why football is in the wrong hands.
The reason for giving Donald Trump, possibly the most divisive figure that has ever existed in American politics, the accolade is because he has brought people together; he has been responsible for uniting people.
Let’s not forget that these bosom buddies saw Infantino invited, with Trump’s backing, to help “sort out” the Middle East in a meeting of nations to discuss geopolitical problems of their region. What’s Infantino doing there? What’s that got to do with the governance of football? Whatever FIFA think it does apparently… What we want is an untainted Christmas bauble hanging on everybody’s Christmas tree – the promise of a dazzling World Cup in 2026.
Mexico, Canada and the United States will host the spectacle. Nobody could have predicted that these three countries would be in a trade war which was started, ended, began again, encouraged, and being totally enthralled at their own genius in having a trade war, by the USA, it was bizarre and strange to see the heads of each government onstage picking out their balls.
Of course, nobody in FIFA has a crystal ball or could see into the future; seeing into next week would appear to be a bit of a struggle for them. Trying to explain to people what the World Cup draw was all about and why Donald Trump got the FIFA Peace Prize is as difficult as trying to explain the offside rule to somebody whose only sporting passion is cricket.
So here we are. Donald Trump is the man to bring peace, and the World Cup is untainted by it.
Here we go. Indeed, bring it on.
Though to be fair to Infantino, if I take the other view that this is a piece of absolute genius. Given that Donald Trump has said that if there are any problems in any of the cities that the World Cup is being
based in, he’s going to intervene and move things, maybe the peace-loving guy will leave well alone? Infantino can hand up his little shiny medal round his neck and say, “Oh Donald, you can’t do that, can you?” It may be a way of ensuring that the World Cup goes on without interference because this this “peacemaker” loves to meddle.
So perhaps Infantino has done one simple thing and that is to take Trump’s big wooden spoon out of the pot of soup that is going to be the World Cup in 2026 and it’s going to be more palatable than it would have been if we had just allowed Donald Trump to pick anything out of any of the other balls. And that would have been a total cock up…
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