GENEVA, Dec 10: FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s public support for Donald Trump and a peace prize awarded to the US president are the subjects of formal complaints to the global football body’s ethics investigators.
FairSquare, a London-based human rights nonprofit, said Tuesday it filed requests for investigations into Infantino’s alleged breaches of FIFA’s statutory duty to be politically neutral.
FIFA said its ethics committee does not comment on potential ongoing cases, and could not confirm receiving the complaint.
FIFA’s ethics code calls for a ban from football of up to two years for violating the duty of neutrality, though it is unclear if the case will be taken up. The FIFA-appointed current ethics investigators and judges are seen by some observers to operate with less independence than their predecessors a decade ago when then-president Sepp Blatter was removed from office.
Infantino has expressed views this year backing Trump and his policies, including suggesting the US president deserved to get the Nobel Peace Prize which he did not win.
The FIFA leader also has closely aligned football with the US government ahead of the 2026 World Cup being co-hosted with Canada and Mexico. The tournament should earn more than $10 billion for FIFA.
Political leaders of all three co-hosts joined Infantino on stage to begin the World Cup tournament draw last Friday in Washington, DC, after Trump got the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.
FIFA has not specified how Infantino created the peace prize last month though people familiar with the process in private conversations said they learned about it through media reports. (AP)
