The celebration is all about football, but the man to be honored never kicked a ball. You will receive, as everyone suggests, New FIFA Peace Prize. Not to mention his threat to invade Venezuela, the massacre of hundreds of alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean, his intervention in Latin America “as if he were a mafia boss” (protecting believers, punishing critics), his support for the Gaza massacre, and his refusal to grant entry visas to delegations from designated countries.
Nor does the military occupation of Washington matter, under the pretext of false insecurity (the crime rate is the lowest in the last thirty years). The American capital will host the 2026 World Cup draw next Friday. There should be no doubt that the honoree will be host Donald Trump. The “Peace Prize” will be awarded. Gianni InfantinoPresident of FIFA. Football strike these days in Argentina will sing: “Infantino button, Infantino button…”.
Infantino had already smiled at Vladimir Putin at the 2018 Russian Cup and at the Sheikhs at Qatar 2022, but although there is less discontent today, not everything was as obscene as it is now. There will be an amplified World Cup tournament of 48 teams, 12 groups and 104 matches In a country forty days ago, more than seven million people took to the streetsThey are driven by their boss, the Emperor, who dominates dissidents, the press, and immigrants, inside and outside his lands, but who is praised by much of the world.
Football also kneels. CONMEBOL and CONCACAF reportedly want to bring the next Copa America in 2028 to the United States again, the second in a row, despite the chaos of the last edition in 2024, with inadequate pitches and turf, sweltering heat and an Argentina-Colombia final that was almost a tragedy at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
The raffle will take place at the Kennedy Center, a historic public arts center in Washington. Trump fired his government and appointed his followers. The Washington Post revealed that FIFA hired him “at no cost.” “He will donate approximately seven million dollars,” Kennedy replies, without showing a single document. It’s the same FIFA that qualified Leo Messi’s Inter Miami for the Club World Cupwhose last podium (champion Chelsea) was subjected to an extraordinary invasion by Trump. The same FIFA a few days ago changed the three-match ban that would have prevented the start of the World Cup Cristiano RonaldoTrump’s new visitor to the White House, while having dinner with the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, Infantino, Elon Musk and other millionaires. When asked about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents, Trump responded: “Things happen.” Ronaldo gave him a T-shirt that read: “To President Donald J. Trump, Playing for Peace.”
If Barron (Trump and Melania’s son) is a Ronaldo fan, then Theodore James (Trump’s nine-year-old grandson) is a Messi fan. He took to the field alongside Leo in Inter Miami’s recent win over Nashville. He is the youngest son of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Trump’s son-in-law, a powerful adviser, was key to Saudi Arabia removing support for Morocco’s candidacy and driving part of the Arab vote that helped the United States win the 2026 World Cup.
On Saturday, the day after the draw, Messi will seek to be crowned champion of the American Football League for the first time in Miami against the Vancouver Whitecaps team, led by German Thomas Muller. Messi and the World Cup are the ultimate relaunch of the (yet untapped) football business. And from Trump. A television audience of six billion viewers, between the goals of Messi, Cristiano and their companions, will see the imperial United States “the dyed-blond president, the billionaire who speaks for the people,” as the French philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky described it a few days ago, “able to say that it rains when there is sun.”
On the field, it will be difficult for Mauricio Pochettino (the Argentine coach of the US national team) to adhere to the mandate Trumpism Under the title “America First”. Not even with the advice of Claudio “Chechi” Tapia, the defeated president, who was forced, if there was still time, to his own version of MAGA (Make AFA Great Again). The government is pursuing him and the judiciary is investigating him. A powerful but minor actor in the global jungle that has hijacked the ball. Trump has always viewed sports as the stage for a cultural battle, from his attacks on “unpatriotic” athletes who kneel in protest, to his close association with wrestling.
Infantino knows this. And he takes advantage of that. He visits him more than any other president. It flatters his ego. He unsuccessfully applied for the Nobel Peace Prize. A special tribute to him has been prepared for Friday: “FIFA Peace Prize – Football Unites the World.” Recognizing those who “bring people together and give hope to future generations.” Infantino’s unilateral decision, there is no consultation within FIFA. In an interview with El Pais these days, the great 92-year-old film director Costa Gavras described Trump as “the figure who best defines our time.” They asked him if he wouldn’t make a movie about him. “Charlie Chaplin actually did that,” he replied. The movie? “The Great Dictator.”