Norwegian football chiefs want FIFA 'Peace Prize' abolished and ICE agents nowhere near the World Cup

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Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

Norway’s football federation has called for the FIFA 'Peace Prize' award to be scrapped as it is in breach of the organisation's stance on political neutrality.

At the World Cup group stage draw in December, United States President Donald Trump was awarded the inaugural prize by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

It was viewed by many as a way simply to stroke Trump's ego as the president of one of the World Cup host nations rather than an award with true gravitas.

Since receiving the award, Trump has ordered military action in Venezuela and Nigeria, among others, and instigated a war in the Middle East with Iran.

Infantino was asked months later by Sky News if Trump was a destabilising force in the world, and he responded:

"If we speak about the peace prize and ask ‘what is the main responsibility of a leader?’

"I think, for me, it means he must protect first his country and its people.

"If you manage to save lives, to protect your people and other people around the world, well, you deserve respect.

"We gave him the peace prize because he was instrumental in resolving conflicts and saving thousands of lives and to me, nothing is more important than stopping killing."

Norway's protests

The Norwegian football federation isn't having it, though, and plan to write to FIFA to dispute the award's existence as it has nothing to do with football.

In addition to the protests about the award, the NFF want assurances from FIFA that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will not have a major presence at the 2026 World Cup.

Trump's crackdown on immigration has led to violence on the streets of the US and in January, two American citizens were shot and killed by ICE agents - Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

NFF president Lisa Klaveness told reporters: “We want to see it abolished. We don’t think it’s part of FIFA’s mandate to give such a prize. We have a Nobel Institute that does that job independently already. This peace prize given at the [World Cup] draw in Washington was a breach of FIFA’s own statutes of political neutrality and there was a lack of legal process within FIFA.

“It’s important for FIFA’s federations, confederations and also FIFA itself to try to avoid situations where this arm’s-length distance to state leaders is challenged. And these prizes will typically be very political if you don’t have really good instruments and experiments and experience to make this independent and to have a jury and criteria. That is full-time work. It’s so sensitive.

“From a resource angle, from a mandate angle, and most importantly from a governance angle, it should be avoided in the future.”

Campaign group FairSquare has already launched a protest to FIFA's ethics committe about the award and the NFF supports it.

“We have been outspoken against the breach of the rule of political neutrality,” she added. “This last part is what we want the ethical committee to assess.

“We support that FairSquare has made the complaint and [it] should be addressed and assessed, and that it should be a transparent process in due time and that the reasoning and the conclusion should be transparent.”

Klaveness raised concerns that many travelling football fans could be targeted by ICE at World Cup venues.

“We want to address to the FIFA leadership how they are working to prevent, for example, ICE actions to different stadiums, to make sure that all fans come to the World Cup and come to the stadium safely,” she added.

“We hope to speak to Fifa leadership to address this issue. The World Cup should be inclusive and safe for everybody, regardless of ethnicity, which country you come from, or your sexual orientation.”

Travelling World Cup fans ‘vulnerable to serious harm’

Some sections of travelling World Cup fans will be "vulnerable to serious harm" in the United States, according to several civil rights organisations.

More than 120 civil society groups and MLS and NWSL-affiliated fan groups have published a travel advisory document to travelling fans of immigrant backgrounds, LGBTQ+ people and racial and ethnic minority groups warning them of the potential treatment they face in the USA, who will host the World Cup alongside Mexico and Canada this summer.

The message issues a stark warning to everyone from fans, to players, to the media: "exercise caution and have an emergency contingency plan." This call to action stems from the group’s concerns regarding an escalation of violence and authoritarianism under the Donald Trump administration.

There has been violence on the streets of the country after the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers under Trump. Since the beginning of 2025, 48 people have died while in ICE custody

The advisory publication has highlighted six factors of concern:

- The arbitrary denial of entry and risk of detention and/or deportation

- Expanded limitations on travel and entry into the U.S.

- Invasive social media screening and searches of electronic devices

- “Violent and unconstitutional” immigration enforcement, including racial profiling and other discrimination

- “Suppression” of speech and protest

-Serious risk of mistreatment while being held in immigration detention facilities

“FIFA has been paying lip service to human rights while cozying up with the Trump administration, putting millions of people at risk of being harmed and their basic rights violated,” said Jamil Dakwar, human rights program director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“The Trump administration’s abusive actions continue to threaten our communities, tourists, and fans alike — and it’s past time that FIFA uses its leverage to push for meaningful policy changes and binding assurances that will make people feel safe to travel and enjoy the games.”

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Written by

Martin Macdonald | Writer

Martin Macdonald. a Content Writer for FootballTransfers and FootballTransfers USA, as well as the Business Operations Manager for RealTimes Network, has worked in football reporting for over 15 years, starting at GOAL and Perform Media before moving to RealTimes. He was formerly the Chief Editor of MovieMeter.com and has also written for FightFans, GPFans and MSN.

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