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The president of the Norwegian football association has called for the abolition of the FIFA Peace Prize, which was awarded to U.S. President Donald Trump, and says she supports an ethics complaint against Gianni Infantino, the president of world football\u2019s governing body.<\/p>\n
Lise Klaveness, who will represent her federation at the FIFA Congress on Thursday, said the organisation should maintain \u201can arm\u2019s length distance\u201d from world leaders.<\/p>\n
Trump was presented with the Peace Prize by Infantino at the draw for this summer\u2019s World Cup in Washington D.C. on December 6.<\/p>\n
The prize was announced by FIFA in November \u2013 without prior approval from its board, the FIFA Council \u2013 in order \u201cto reward individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world\u201d.<\/p>\n
The timing of the announcement and Infantino\u2019s strong relationship with Trump led many to assume that the award was created essentially as a consolation prize for Trump after the U.S. president was overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize, the world\u2019s most prestigious award of its kind.<\/p>\n
Klaveness believes the FIFA, which is supposed to remain politically neutral, does not have the \u201cmandate\u201d nor resources to give out a Peace Prize.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see (the FIFA Peace Prize) abolished,\u201d Klaveness said in a roundtable with international media, including The Athletic<\/em>, on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t think it\u2019s part of FIFA\u2019s mandate to give such a prize. We think we have a Nobel institute that does that job independently already.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think it\u2019s important for football federations, confederations and FIFA to try and avoid situations where this arm\u2019s length distance to state leaders are challenged. These prizes will typically be very political if you don\u2019t have really good instruments and experience to make this independent.<\/p>\n \u201cTo have a jury and criteria is full-time work. It\u2019s so sensitive. From a resource angle and from a mandate angle but, most importantly, from a governance angle, I think it should be avoided also in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n FIFA did not announce nominees for the Peace Prize, and spokespeople for the governing body would not say how or by whom the winner would be chosen, when asked.<\/p>\n FIFA\u2019s ethics committee has since been asked to investigate Infantino for \u201crepeated breaches\u201d of the governing body\u2019s rules on political neutrality over his relationship with Trump.<\/p>\n Human rights campaign group FairSquare wrote a letter of complaint to FIFA, alleging that Infantino has \u201ccommitted four clear breaches\u201d of his organisation\u2019s neutrality rules.<\/p>\n Klaveness supports FairSquare\u2019s efforts, and added: \u201cWe have been outspokenly critical of the process because it wasn\u2019t anchored in the FIFA Council and it\u2019s also, in our opinion, outside of the FIFA mandate to make such a prize.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should also be assessed if it\u2019s a breach of the political neutrality. That will be up to the ethical committee to assess.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think it\u2019s important not to just say things in (the) media but we have checks and balances within the organisation. First and foremost we support that FairSquare has made the complaint and that it should be addressed, it should be assessed and it should be a transparent process.\u201d<\/p>\n The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Venezuelan opposition leader XXX, has since given her medal to Trump, citing his commitment to her country\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n Faced with criticism for awarding Trump FIFA\u2019s prize, Infantino has doubled down, insisting the U.S. president \u201cobjectively\u2026deserves it\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just Gianni Infantino who said it\u2026 [there\u2019s] a Nobel Peace Prize winner who said this,\u201d Infantino told Sky News in February.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was instrumental in resolving conflicts and saving lives and saving thousands of lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Klaveness has been an outspoken critic of FIFA and in 2022 she gave a speech in Doha ahead of the draw for the winter World Cup in Qatar, in which she said the governing body had \u201ca long way to go\u201d in addressing concerns over \u201chuman rights, equality and democracy\u201d. Klaveness, though, is not planning a similar intervention at Thursday\u2019s Congress in Vancouver, Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n